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A review by christel_booksmart
A History of Psychiatry: From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac by Edward Shorter
4.0
When you actually enjoy a book you have to read for your thesis :D
This book was a fascinating timeline of psychiatry, all the way through asylums in the 18th century until the advent of psychopharmacotherapy from the 50s-now. Edward Shorter is a fantastic writer and one can really sense his passion for mental illness by the way he tells a story. I really enjoy non-fiction books that are so well-written they flow and read as easily as a fictional story. Shorter is one of those types of writers. This was especially helpful for me, because this is a book I needed to read and take notes on. I think the fact I read this book in a week is testament to how well-written and readable it is. I learned a lot of new words while reading this book! Having a psychology degree means I knew quite a bit of the background/topics discussed in this book, but I still found myself gasping at a lot of what was written in this book, particularly the statistics of the 17- and 1800s. I also noted down quite a few early books Shorter referenced that are written from the perspectives of people with mental illness and those in early asylums, which I am looking forward to reading. This book certainly added a lot more than a substantial reference point in my thesis!
This book was a fascinating timeline of psychiatry, all the way through asylums in the 18th century until the advent of psychopharmacotherapy from the 50s-now. Edward Shorter is a fantastic writer and one can really sense his passion for mental illness by the way he tells a story. I really enjoy non-fiction books that are so well-written they flow and read as easily as a fictional story. Shorter is one of those types of writers. This was especially helpful for me, because this is a book I needed to read and take notes on. I think the fact I read this book in a week is testament to how well-written and readable it is. I learned a lot of new words while reading this book! Having a psychology degree means I knew quite a bit of the background/topics discussed in this book, but I still found myself gasping at a lot of what was written in this book, particularly the statistics of the 17- and 1800s. I also noted down quite a few early books Shorter referenced that are written from the perspectives of people with mental illness and those in early asylums, which I am looking forward to reading. This book certainly added a lot more than a substantial reference point in my thesis!