The Primal Whimper : More Readings from the Journal of Polymorphous Perversity

Offers a humorous look at intelligence tests, postgraduate work in psychology, sexual behavior, and psychological testing

Good parody often feels like one big inside joke, and Primal Whimper certainly qualifies. Anyone who's spent part of his workday between someone else's ears--whether a novice Psych 101 student or a Ph.D.--is sure to enjoy this collection of extracts from the Journal of Polymorphous Perversity (J. P. P.). For years, J. P. P. editor Glenn Ellenbogen has been coaxing parody articles from that rarest of beasts: academics with senses of humor. This material is terrifically authentic, but the language sometimes obscures the joke for those of us who haven't read Freud recently. However, this is not always the case, as evidenced by this send-up of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the granddaddy of all personality tests:
"Answer each item T(rue) or F(alse):

I am easily awakened by the firing of cannons.
I believe I am following others.
I was not very strict with my parents.
I try to steal people's thoughts and ideas when they are not looking.
I am sexually attracted to beings from outer space..."

This collection of fake essays (with titles such as "The Academic Oedipal Crisis: An Experimental Investigation of the Need of Assistant Professors to Kill Their Departmental Chairman") will make the perfect gift for your therapist.