Cameron Tuttle is a freelance writer in San Francisco, California. Since writing this book, she rarely ventures outside.
Reviews From: The New York Times Magazine
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From: The New York Times Magazine
Questions for Cameron Tuttle, the author of The Paranoid's Pocket
Guide You recommend "niche worrying." What is it?
A: Niche worrying is a means of conveniently organizing one's
paranoia. It's concentrating at an appropriate time, like focussing
on getting Legionnaires' disease from inhaling steam containing
Legionella pneumophila bacteria while taking a shower at the gym.
Q: What are your sources?
A: Television, newspaper and the Centers for Disease Control. And
ads -- like those for the Club, possibly the world's most paranoid
product. Advertising, after all, preys off our collective paranoia
to sell "cures" and "protection." Q: Is paranoia healthy?
A: I believe so. Think about what adds up to paranoia: information
plus imagination. In my book, I include a factoid on insurance
policies offering coverage for destruction by satellite. Only an
active and alert mind will draw the conclusion that their property
is in actual danger. Paranoia is proof that one is aware.
By Jack Harris A gimmick book, "to help you worry more
efficiently." If you have a propensity to worry a lot, this
collection of factoids might lend some credence to your condition.
It is arranged in short paragraphs and lists with comments in the
margins. "The IRS has more employees than the FBI or any other law
enforcement agency" then "What are they really doing?" as an aside.
A good question, one that has occurred to most of us without the
benefit of this guide. Along the bottom of each page is a sort of
first person worry-wart stream of consciousness rant running a
spectrum of concerns from the mundane (did I leave the iron on?) to
the exotic (there's a tapeworm inside of me) the truly paranoid
(angry adolescent spitting in my fast-food) to the self-fulfilling
prophesy (I'll be left at the altar). With this attitude, you will
lose sleep (the paranoids are out to get me). Some of the blurbs
are eye-opening. "According to the Federal Aviation Administration,
13% of the commercial airline pilots tested positive for alcohol or
drugs while on duty," Others are obvious, "Thirty-four percent of
hunting deaths and injuries are self-inflicted." Nowhere in this
book are the sources documented or footnoted which is what dooms it
to the novelty category. It might go well if the person could flip
through a few pages for a baffled grin. One with slower bowels
could conceivably push through the whole book in a sitting, with
the caution: "One in 6,500 Americans will be injured by a toilet
seat during their lifetime. Most will be men."
Paranoia is proof that one is aware. New York Times Magazine
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