Man Who Couldn't Stop (Adam)

Book Reviews
Adam's case history conveys a palpable sense of what it's like to live in a brain possessed by obsessive thoughts, but it mainly serves as the launching point for a broad-ranging odyssey across the history and science of O.C.D.… Adam is a companionable Virgil, guiding the reader through the hellish circles of the disorder, explaining scientific concepts in clear, nontechnical prose…. For sufferers, the thirst for relief from intrusive thoughts and compulsions can be unending and, ultimately, unquenchable. David Adam's book should provide them with consolation (you are not alone) and hope (he's much better now)—and it provides all readers with a fascinating glimpse of an unusual but enduring form of psychopathology that sheds light on how our elegantly evolutionarily designed brains can give rise to minds that sometimes work in painful, maladaptive ways.
Scott Stossel - New York Times Book Review


[A] searing account.... The mental-disorder memoir...has become its own genre, and works such as Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Prozac Nation, Andrew Solomon’s The Noonday Demon and most recently Scott Stossel’s My Age of Anxiety set a high standard. In The Man Who Couldn’t Stop, Adam more than meets it, writing with honesty, compassion and even humor about a malady so often stigmatized and caricatured.
Washington Post


A compelling portrait.... This is the most comprehensive and compassionate book on OCD to date, and it offers hope that our thinking and behavior—both individual and collective—can change.
Los Angeles Times


Adam provides a compelling, often frightening, description of the havoc OCD can wreak. He also provides hope that while OCD can derail even the most placid life, it can be overcome.
USA Today


[A] fascinating study of the living nightmare that is obsessive compulsive disorder . . . [David Adam] has written one of the best and most readable studies of a mental illness to have emerged in recent years.... [The Man Who Couldn’t Stop is] a wide-ranging exploration of the illness, looking at possible causes and cures. It takes in traditional psychiatry..., evolutionary psychology, genetics, aversion therapy, philosophy, social history, religion, neuroscience, anthropology and even zoology.... An honest and open and, yes, maybe life-changing work.
Matt Haig - Observer (UK)


Adam, an award-winning science writer and editor at the journal Nature, is uniquely placed to examine the genetic, evolutionary, psychological, medical and "just plain unfortunate" possible causes of OCD. He does so with vigour, sharp analysis, compassion and occasional humor.... A clear-sighted and eminently accessible account.... The Man Who Couldn’t Stop is a fundamentally important book.
Helen Davis - Sunday Times (UK)


[An] engaging, exhaustively researched neuro memoir, a blend of brain science and personal history.
Melanie McGrath - Evening Standard (UK)


A captivating first-person account of how a blizzard of unwanted thoughts can become a personal nightmare. At times shocking, at times tragic, at times unbelievably funny, it is a wonderful read.
James Lloyd - BBC Focus (UK)


This blew me away. Stunning.
Ian Sample - Guardian (UK)


The greatest strength of his book—part memoir, part scientific treatise on obsessive-compulsive disorder—is that it meets [people who call themselves "a little OCD"] on their level: "Imagine you can never turn it off." Adam's personal insights, and case studies from the famous (Winston Churchill, Nikola Tesla) to the obscure (an Ethiopian schoolgirl who ate a wall of mud bricks), make that feat of imagination both possible and painful.
Mother Jones


In a wide-reaching discussion that spans the spectrum of obsession, Nature editor David Adam strikes an impressive balance between humor and poignancy, and between entertaining and informing. Adam seamlessly moves between personal stories of his own struggles with OCD and case studies of other people with the disorder...while his smooth prose ensures an enjoyable read.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Riveting, at times disturbing, but always enlightening.... For all the impressive marshaling of information, it is Adam’s own story of his struggles with the condition...that is the most captivating aspect of this impressive work. Adam clearly shows both the devastating impact our thoughts can have when they turn against us, and how science is helping us fight back.
Booklist


(Starred review.) An engrossing first-person study of obsessive-compulsive disorder from within and without."... Adam delves deeply into OCD's possible causes, its varieties...and treatments, breaking down this complex condition in easily accessible layman's terms. Well-researched, witty, honest and irreverent, Adam's account proves as irresistible as his subject.
Kirkus Reviews