A collection of short biographies of so-called mad scientists, real and fictional, with analyses of their possible psychopathologies. The fictional entries are taken from literature, TV, movies, and comics, and are mostly characters you probably know, from Victor Frankenstein to Lex Luthor to Dr. No. The real ones feature a few widely familiar names, such as Nikola Tesla (who belongs on this list if anyone does) and Marie Curie (who really doesn't, but who is alleged to have suffered bouts of depression, possibly exacerbated by radiation poisoning), along with quite a few less familiar ones, such as Sidney Gottlieb, who was known for dosing unwitting subjects with LSD.

There's a lot of humor here, especially in the little profiles at the beginning of each section listing things such as likes, dislikes, and hobbies, and in the lists at the end that provide tips for increasing both your madness and science quotients. And there's something particularly amusing in treating a ridiculous fictional character like Dr. Evil to a mock-serious psychological analysis. But, I must admit, I do find the armchair diagnoses of real people mildly uncomfortable, and I fear that the real biographies here may be a bit distorted by the mad scientist narrative. I suspect I actually would have enjoyed it more if it had just stuck to the fictional folks. ( )