I am a huge fan of this book, not necessarily because it's greatly written, but more because of what it proposes.

Essentially, it suggests that schizophrenia has been pivotal in shaping the major creations and inventions in human kind - as well as shaping religious developments and movements - among other things. It talks about the links between genius and schizophrenia, drawing upon case studies, extrapolation, and research to support his theory that without schizophrenia, our world would not be the wonderful - and horrifying - place that it is today.

I mainly bought this book because of its brief references to schizophrenia within shamanism, but this book has enough meat in it, and is interesting enough, that you don't even really need to be interested in schizophrenia in order to enjoy it. ( )