The Hypochondriac's Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have | 
 enlarge | Author: Dennis Diclaudio
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $1.68
You Save: $13.27 (89%)
New (35) Used (24) from $1.68
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 14277
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.3 x 4.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 1596910615
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.8525
EAN: 9781596910614
ASIN: 1596910615
Publication Date: December 13, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New & Unread Book Not Remainder Marked- May Have Slight Handling Wear From Bookstore Shelf- Instock For Immediate Shipping
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The good news: you won’t stop laughing. The bad news: Every word is true.
Profiling fifty of the most disgusting, painful, life-threatening and otherwise icky diseases, this remarkable book is the perfect treat for the closet temperature-taker, speed-dialing doctor stalker, or tissue-wielding virus-phobe in all of us. Each disease is fully documented, including a checklist of symptoms, an overview, treatment, prognosis, and—for the rare cases in which the reader is not yet infected—notes on prevention. With fascinating, sickeningly accurate text written by a member of the editorial staff in the Infectious Disease Department of Elsevier, The Hypochondriac’s Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already Have is capable of startling even the most health-confident into fanatical hand washing.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
Good gift for the hypochondiac February 19, 2008
Elizabeth A. Kissner (Wisconsin, USA)
I bought this book as a Christmas gift for a friend who is a hypochondriac. She got a kick out of it which is what I wanted. I'm not sure how informative it is but works good as a conversation piece on the coffee table.
The Title Alone is Worth the Price of the Book December 22, 2007
Boston Lover (Lincoln, MA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What better way to bond to the sweet hypochondriac in your life than by giving them this book? The diseases are real, the commentary is hilarious. Guys, believe me, you won't want to swim in the Amazon after you read this.
The Hypochondriac"s Pocket Guide to Horrible Diseases You Probably Already ave September 1, 2007
Lynn Lunceford
This is the FUNNIEST book you'll ever read. Hands down. Fast delivery with good packaging (bubble wrap) for protection.
 A hypochondriac's nightmare. August 28, 2007
O. Renteria (New Orleans, LA)
This book was funny. All the diseases shown are some of the worst diseases anyone could ever imagine. You won't even want to shake hands with someone after reading about Bejel. *ew*
At last! The perfect gift for the man (or woman) who thinks they have everything. May 24, 2007
Geryjo (Seattle, WA USA)
If you have the nerve, and are into perverse entertainment, this is the book for you -- or someone who will appreciate midnight black humor with a glossy blue sheen. We're talking forty-five horrifying ways that Nature is out to get you, with plenty of gruesome details on how she will succeed, and the pitiful or nonexistent steps you can take to protect yourself.
The writing is excellent. The author has a way with words, content aside. It really takes talent to make me laugh out loud, all the way through a book, especially when what I'm reading is also giving me cold sweats and an irregular heartbeat. I couldn't put the book down, and now I'm afraid to move or breathe. Other people have to get their thrills on mountain tops -- me, I can sit right here, white knuckled, waiting for unspeakable dangers to come to me. I am now regarding my cats and coworkers with suspicion -- no, outright terror.
Three days ago, I had no trouble making the leap from tiny flickering pain in my head to malignant brain tumor. Now I look at that self-diagnosis as a sign of childlike innocence. Do you have any idea how many truly unspeakable, debilitating, and deadly diseases start out with a simple rash or swelling? Numbness, coughing, itching, of course headaches, the list of innocuous symptoms is comprehensive, and all symptoms seem to lead to blindness and loss of body parts.
I find the ailment Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, where your immune system decides to replace your sore muscles with bone, particularly insidious, although I feel better about not going to the gym now. Another favorite: Fatal Familial Insomnia, in which you never sleep again. (It's now 2 a.m. -- I'm feeling perky, and worried.) Furious Rabies, Norwegian Scabies, very bad. And let's not ignore good old pinworms, which 1 in 10 of us have at this minute and everyone has a 50/50 shot at getting at some point before they die (probably not from pinworms, which, by the way, are IN your butt and come out at night to lay their eggs ON your butt. Remember that time you scratched your itchy butt? Yuh huh. Trust me, the least of your worries. You want to be focusing on Scleroderma, in which your skin and organs slowly harden and you begin to resemble a statue, or Myasis, in which maggots crawl around beneath your skin. If you're lucky you'll get off with Chronic Idiopathic Diarrhea or Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. Both of which sound marginally better than the Mycobacteriosis I could get from changing the water in my fishbowl, or Bacillary Angiomatosis (cat scratch fever).
Giving this book to a full-blown hypochondriac is what passive aggressive behavior is all about. Or, you just think your mom will really get a kick out of it.
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