If you’re a hypochondriac (and I shamefully admit to having these kind of tendencies, but for more reasonable ailments), then sometimes you’re just looking to shake things up.  Convincing yourself a headache is a brain tumor is pretty easy, but eventually won’t you get tired of going to your doctor with the same-old problems?  Well, shake things up and pick yourself up a copy of The Hypochondriac’s Handbook:  Diseases and Ailments That Probably Should Have Killed You By Now, which highlights some of the best in weird and rare medical ailments sure to send your doctor to his medical textbooks!  As it turns out, the human body is a veritable wonderland of absolutely horrible ailments.

Author Ian Landau, who writes for Reader’s Digest, came about for the idea of the book thanks to a chance meeting with his editors at which they discussed a rare mental illness called foreign language syndrome, brought about by head trauma.  Intrigued, that set Landau off on his journey to collect some of the world’s rarest, weirdest, and grossest medical ailments all in one handy-dandy reference guide.

Tags: Hypochondriac’s Handbook, Ian Landau, books, new books, weird diseases, unusual illnesses, hypochondriacs, weird medical news, the human body, new books, interviews, author interviews, unusual books

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