Books

Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder: Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities by Claudia Kalb (National Geographic, $28)

“My hope is that telling these stories will highlight the psychological challenges we all face-no matter how big or small-and maybe even eradicate some of the cultural stigma that can go along with them.  By learning more about these fascinating icons, we may discover a greater appreciation for the depths of human experience and behaviour-and gain a greater understanding of ourselves.”

-Claudia Kalb (from Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder)

In my experiences, I have never come across a person with some sort of mental illness who was not also intelligent, interesting, creative and unique.  But that begs the question:  Was it their afflictions that made them so, or would they have had those traits even if they did not possess their respective disorders?  Award-winning science, health and medical journalist Claudia Kalb delves into that in her new book Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder:  Inside the Minds of History’s Great Personalities.

The effort contains twelve chapters (along with an introduction and afterward by the author), each highlighting a different renowned historical figure from politics, science, the arts or entertainment, and a possible determination of whatever malady they could have been stricken with (it is important to note, and the author admits as well, that most of the subjects were never formally diagnosed, and because it is medically unethical for a physician or psychologist to do so without personally examining the patient, said diagnoses are speculative at best).  Each section was organized the same:  It begins with a mini-bio, moves on to their particular trait, how it affected their lives, and an analysis.  There is as well a helpful and informative chronicle of the illness in question including a history of its classification.  Not heavily detailed, but then again, the book is not meant for health care professionals.

The personalities range from (besides, of course, Mr. Warhol and his propensity towards never throwing anything away), Albert Einstein (Asperger’s syndrome), and Marilyn Monroe (borderline personality disorder) to Frank Lloyd Wright (narcissism) and Princess Diana (bulimia).  Iconic and influential, they were also quite imperfect.  But was it those imperfections that made them great?  Would Einstein’s I.Q. have been just as high without Asperger’s (as is mentioned in the book, not everyone with autism spectrum is a genius); would Marilyn not have been as good an actress is she were more stable; would Mr. Wright’s designs have been less significant if he were not such a jerk; would Princess Di have done her charity work even if she enjoyed a full meal without vomiting?  The book fails to answer the aforementioned queries to any satisfactory degree.  (To be fair, it would likely take an entire book for each subject to do so for me.)

However Andy Warhol Was a Hoarder does contain numerous surprising facts and although rigidly structured and repetitive, it is never dull, with concise examples and explanations for each disorder.

In short Claudia Kalb achieves what she sets out to do, and I recommend the book to anyone who wants to gain insight into mental illnesses and afflictions, and maybe a little about themselves.

Twitter: @Akessaris

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