Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us - Hardcover

Storr, Will

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1468315897 ISBN 13: 9781468315899

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, 2018

Synopsis

We live in the age of the individual. Every day, we’re bombarded with depictions of the beautiful, successful, slim, socially conscious, and extroverted individual that our culture has decided is the perfect self, and we berate ourselves when we don’t measure up. This model of the perfect self and the impossibly high standards it sets can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy, and unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide. Journalist and novelist Will Storr began to wonder about this perfect self that torments so many of us: Where does this ideal come from? Why is it so powerful? Is there any way to break its spell? To answer these questions, Storr takes the reader on a journey from the shores of Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of narcissism and the “selfie” generation, and right up to the era of hyper-individualism in which we live now. Selfie tells the epic tale of the person we all know so intimately―because it’s us.

About this title

About the Author

Will Storr is an award-winning novelist and long-form journalist. He has reported from refugee camps in Africa, war-torn rural Colombia, and remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. He is a contributing editor at Esquire, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Observer, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian. In 2012, he was presented with the Amnesty International award for his work on sexual violence against men. In 2013, his BBC radio series won the AIB award for best investigative documentary. He is author of Selfie and The Unpersuadables(available from Overlook), Will Storr vs. The Supernatural and The Hunger and the Howling of Killian Lone.

Review

“In this fascinating psychological and social history, Storr reveals how biology and culture conspire to keep us striving for perfection, and the devastating toll that can take.”
- The Washington Post

“An intriguing odyssey of self-discovery.”
- The New York Times Book Review

“Spoiler alert: Despite its trendy title, Selfie is not a frivolous book about taking photographs of oneself and littering social media with them, although this pastime is examined . . . Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us is an ambitious survey of the influences that make us who we are. In addition to his own experiences and insights, Storr draws on scholarly literature and interviews experts on the human personality. He ably synthesizes centuries of attitudes and beliefs about selfhood, primarily in western thought, from Aristotle, John Calvin and Freud, to Sartre, Ayn Rand and Steve Jobs. His straightforward prose and personal anecdotes make all of it eminently digestible. ”
- USA Today

“Smartphones and social media are turning us into dreadful narcissists. Would anyone care to dispute this? Yes, actually. His name is Will Storr . . . We’re missing the point when we complain about technologically induced egotism . . . The root problem, [Selfie] contends, isn’t our devices or our social media sites. It’s us. Or rather, it’s the civilization we’ve built, a culture that for many decades has encouraged ever greater degrees of self-regard. ”
- The Daily Beast

“[A] free ranging account of the modern, ego-driven Western self. . . . A corrective, and a much-needed one, to a moment fixated on its own particularity.”
- The New Republic

“It’s easy to look at Instagram and selfie-sticks and shake our heads at millennial narcissism. But Will Storr takes a longer view. He ignores the easy targets and instead tells the amazing 2,500-year story of how we’ve come to think about our selves. A top-notch journalist, historian, essayist, and sleuth, Storr has written an essential book for understanding, and coping with, the 21st century.”
- Nathan Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Nix

“This entertaining investigation is essentially a social history of the self, from earliest times (when we worked to increase our status within the tribe) to our current vainglorious self (hungry for likes and approbation on social media). Each of the seven chapters examines an aspect of self; for each of them, Storr, a lively, affable guide, introduces us to an exemplar, some familiar (Confucius, Ayn Rand, Donald Trump) and many more who are not. The final chapter offers Storr’s counsel on “How to Stay Alive in the Age of Perfectionism.” Step 1: try to set aside the current tribal propaganda and embrace your flawed and often unlikeable self. ”
- Toronto Star

“British journalist and novelist Storr takes on the ambitious subject of how people think of themselves. . . . The latest from the adroit, widely respected Storr. ”
- Booklist

“Storr continually delivers rich insights, historically grounded conclusions, and more contemporary deliberations on his subject’s relevance to the Trump campaign and how to stay hopeful living in a me-first world. Captivating, self-reflective research on our culture of rampant egocentricity.”
- Kirkus

“An ambitious argument . . . Storr is an electrifying analyst of Internet culture.”
- Financial Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1468315897
• ISBN 13: 9781468315899
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416