Selfie

How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing To Us

By: Will Storr

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

We are living in an age of heightened individualism. Success is a personal responsibility. Our culture tells us that to succeed is to be slim, rich, happy, extroverted, popular, and flawless. We have become self-obsessed. And our expectation of perfection comes at a cost. Millions are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy. The pressure to conform to this ideal has changed who we are.

It was not always like this. To explain how we got here, award-winning journalist Will Storr leads us on a "terrific tour through the history of self-obsession" (NPR, On Point) that explores the origins of this notion of the 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?

Full of thrilling and unexpected connections among history, psychology, economics, neuroscience, and more, Selfie is an unforgettable book that makes sense of who we have become. Ranging from Ancient Greece, through the Christian Middle Ages, to the self-esteem evangelists of 1980s California, the rise of the "selfie" generation, and 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.

©2018 Will Storr (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

" . . . [P]lacing this symbol of millennial narcissism in a larger cultural story... Selfie traces selfie culture to the self-esteem movement." (The New Yorker)

If you like Jon Ronson, you’ll like this book

Will Storr is a journalist, and as such, his book takes an anecdotal angle to the rise of the western sense of self. It is fascinating, engaging, and enlightening. He does not aim to preach or accuse. He does not vilify millennials or claim that we are all entitled and self-obsessed. He *does* make astute and non-threatening observations throughout, with self-awareness and humour!

Finally! It all makes sense!

The depth of research and rich analysis done by Storr culminates in a historical, psychological, anthropological, and neurological conclusion that finally makes sense of these seemingly senseless, unsure and insecure times.

ARRGH! The Narration!!!

I am very enamored with the topic and am going to try and make it through but this might be the worst narration I have ever heard. I'm trying to listen to it on 1.5 speed to help, but it is sooooo robotic. I'm very surprised more reviewers have not mentioned it. It really is terrible.

I didn’t know I needed this book

Storr gave me a lot to think about. Highlights for me were the concept of confabulation and our brains as unreliable narrators, the examination of neoliberal ideals setting the bar on the worth of an individual, one of the better explanations for the impact of social media on our sense of belonging and safety, and thoughts on what it means to be a neurotic person.

Important book that deserves attention

I fear that this book does not get the attention it deserves. It is a fresh, honest analysis of how we have arrived at a point in culture where narcissism reigns. I wish there were more on how to correct course culturally.