Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness

Dr. David Weeks and Jamie James

“This book summarizes findings from the first systematic study of 'eccentrics': highly talented and unusual people who are somewhere between 'normal' and 'nuts.' This is a domain occupied by genuine geniuses and charming crackpots whose common feature is that they refuse to hold commonly held beliefs or refuse to act in accordance with the norms of society. Filled with fascinating case studies such as the story of Joshua Abraham Norton who, from 1859 to 1880, proclaimed himself to be Emperor of America.”

Publisher: Kodansha
Paperback: 277 pages
Illustrated

Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics

Frederik L. Schodt

Launches you into the raw, brutal yet stylized unconscious of the Japanese mind-kiddie porn, samurai exam-crammers, Yakuza assassins, expressionistic axe-murder, and much more. Mangas are definitely “adult.” Eight color pages, numerous black-and-white illustrations, and 96 pages of sample comics in English. SS

Publisher: Kodansha
Paperback: 260 pages
Illustrated