One of the major documents of modern European civilization, Robert Burton's astounding compendium, a survey of melancholy in all its myriad forms, ...
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Oct 03, 2011
Michael
rated it: 
This was adapted for radio (Radio 4) in England. 2007. These are some details behind that:
It is a huuuge book! The radio commissioner would only allow 1 hour for the adaptation.
The director had the idea to play it as a post-post modern version, along the lines of the film 'Cock and Bull Story'; this was a take on Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy', a very anachronistic and deliberately knowing approach.
(Anyone still following this? Good.)
So, the adaptation had King Ja More...
It is a huuuge book! The radio commissioner would only allow 1 hour for the adaptation.
The director had the idea to play it as a post-post modern version, along the lines of the film 'Cock and Bull Story'; this was a take on Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy', a very anachronistic and deliberately knowing approach.
(Anyone still following this? Good.)
So, the adaptation had King Ja More...
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Sep 01, 2011
James
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This is a book that I view as a reference work in the sense that it can re read a bit at a time and turned to as if to reference a topic. The table of contents is maddeningly unspecific in its title, for example there is an eighty page section titled simply "A Digression of Remedies Against Discontents". However, there is a sufficiently detailed index to allow the reader some hope of finding more specific comments about "goblins' or "grasshoppers" or "green-sicknes
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Jun 22, 2008
A brilliant, witty, insightful book on the nature and causes of depression, written in the early 17th century. Very thorough. Dr. Johnson used to read this regularly. It's great in small doses. Helpful if you know Latin. Burton peppers his considerations with a generous amount of classical quotes. This makes for a little disjointed reading if you, like me, don't know Latin.
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Jan 23, 2012
Chris
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This is one of the greatest things ever. Vincit omnia facetiarum. Or something like that. As another Goodreader pointed out, there likely exists nobody who has read every single page of this mammoth wonder—but damned if I'm not going to give it my very best effort to be able to say that I did! prior to making the transition to particulate dust.
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Nov 11, 2011
Jaleh
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I read this book for a Survey of British Literature Class. We only read twenty pages of it because we could spend an entire semester on it and still not get through all 1300+ pages. This is a really interesting read. Obviously, most of the "scientific" things about the body Burton discusses are inaccurate, but he was very well read for his time, and the book shows this. He doesn't really offer many solutions to things, but his discussion of melancholy is a very interesting glimps into
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May 12, 2011
Bettie
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 12, 2011
Laura
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 14, 2011
Robert
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This is a truly remarkable collection of facts, factoids, legends and theories assembled by an Oxford librarian in the 17th century. Its purpose is to explain and analyze the human emotion of melancholy -- as well as just about everything else in the known universe.
The book has three volumes, published in sequence between 1621 and 1640. New York Review Books has stitched the three into a single, fat paperback, which is just about perfect for most purposes.
This is the kind More...
The book has three volumes, published in sequence between 1621 and 1640. New York Review Books has stitched the three into a single, fat paperback, which is just about perfect for most purposes.
This is the kind More...
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Apr 09, 2011
Khalid
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First published in 1621; Burton's book consists mostly of a collection of opinions of a multitude of writers, grouped under quaint and old-fashioned divisions. Burton endeavored to prove indisputable facts by weighty quotations. The subjects discussed and determined by Burton ranged from the doctrines of religion to military discipline, from inland navigation to the morality of dancing-schools. The book is presented as a medical textbook in which Burton applies his vast and varied learning to th
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Jan 28, 2012
Jonathan
rated it:
This was the 2nd most fascinating & intellectually stimulating book I have ever read!
Those interested in the mystical & esoteric universal human makeup, this book is littered with "old-scribe" style writing in "old english verbage" (original hardback) book.... It's definitely a book to pay full attention to if you'd like to understand the composition of the human soul!!!
This was one of the books in which I myself have referenced many times over and hav More...
Those interested in the mystical & esoteric universal human makeup, this book is littered with "old-scribe" style writing in "old english verbage" (original hardback) book.... It's definitely a book to pay full attention to if you'd like to understand the composition of the human soul!!!
This was one of the books in which I myself have referenced many times over and hav More...
Dec 17, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
It is mad & beautiful. Like a fractal.
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Jan 05, 2012
D
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“This for the most part is the humour of us all, to be discontent, miserable, and most unhappy, as we think at least; and show me him that is not so, or that ever was otherwise.”
Quite, quite interesting. “The Anatomy of Melancholy” goes quite beyond the titled gloominess to spread melancholy onto a compendium of human conditions, complete with symptoms, prognostics and the various cures ever known in the western world. Witches, humours, charms, angels, purgatives (for both or either More...
Quite, quite interesting. “The Anatomy of Melancholy” goes quite beyond the titled gloominess to spread melancholy onto a compendium of human conditions, complete with symptoms, prognostics and the various cures ever known in the western world. Witches, humours, charms, angels, purgatives (for both or either More...
Feb 21, 2009
Sara
rated it:
Not gonna lie, it took me three attempts and six months to finish this book. I blame the fact that about one third of its million pages are written in Latin (and due to my OCD, I was compelled to translate them all). It's great for those of us who appreciate divergent theories stemming from...divergent theories. Robert Burton was a crazy, egotistical genius, even if he didn't believe a word of this masterpiece.
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Aug 07, 2011
A strange, fascinating, sometimes frustrating, work. Written as a treatise on melancholy - the blues which everyone feels at one time or other - Burton displays his dazzling and broad knowledge; of nature, philosophy, mythology and folklore and history. Not to be read cover-to-cover, but dipped into frequently.
Mar 10, 2008
Douglas
rated it:
Here's a moldy-oldie from 1621. This book is best read in small chunks. It's a compendium of all sorts of obscure learning with many classical references. It deals in the main with melancholy and its myriad of causes. Did you realize that consuming mandrakes can bring on depression? Or that night visitors like Incubi and Succubi are also implicated? Not to mention imbalances in the Four Humours. A trip through the index is a good way to start; then look up the topics that might interest you. Be
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Sep 26, 2009
I think you have to be old enough to read this book, but once you are it's obligatory. I scored an unabridged all-English version a while back, but wanted to wait until fall to start reading it.
Sep 05, 2011
Bill
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Without hesitation this makes the list of books on "The Five Foot Shelf" and would be included in the reading material taken to that deserted island.
May 30, 2008
Jessica
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This book, although I only read two thirds of it, provided an awakening of sorts. The first partition, Democritus to the Reader, is a rare gem and serves as a map of the text as a whole. If you don't have much time, this section is sufficient in familiarizing yourself with Burton's work. If you have insomnia however, or nothing else to do, dig deeper. Burton's inspections of depression, anxiety, fundamentalism, obsession, the insatiable desire to know our origin, love, political corruption, hypo
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Apr 03, 2010
Lynda
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A wonderful book. I have about 60 markers of pages or sections that I want to go back and reread, but technically I have finished it.
I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon rereading.
I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon rereading.
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Nov 05, 2007
Rebekka
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Don't read the whole book; it's far too long. But take a peek. Not for accuracy, but rather for an intriguing look into the history of introspection-based science. (Think: depression is caused by too much black bile.) The language is effusive, lush, even beautiful. The author is imaginative and deeply committed to his subject and his tangents.
See what folks are saying about the book in this edition on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Melancholy... More...
See what folks are saying about the book in this edition on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Melancholy... More...
May 14, 2008
Elizabeth
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Hmmm, coming off of "Spark", Burton is refreshing in a way that neuroscience just can't be--phenomenologically? Anyhoo, Burton is full of "true-isms" that all healthy people know from lived experience. From what I recall, great common sense observations combined with a bit of 17th c. quaintness. If you like this, you'll like Seneca's letters. And other such Stoic advice books/epistles. It's sad that Dr. Phil is more popular than this!
PS- love the very-appropriate More...
PS- love the very-appropriate More...
Oct 15, 2011
Ernest
rated it: 
Oh lord... this is such a massive book to review. I think I made some hundreds of highlights and notes. To be fair, some parts of it I give 5 starts, while others 1 star -- or zero, if it were even possible. The review will have to wait for a while as I still have a huge amount of other stuff to do. For one, find a another part-time job -- and quick! -- as it's getting too cold to venture outside without a car. Or...
