The Anxiety Project

A personal journey into the roots of anxiety, through science, history, literature and the classics.

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"The most interesting Dutch writer of his generation" Herman Koch

"Vivid and moving. A marvellous hybrid of a book about one of the major contemporary causes of sickness and unhappiness. In it we recognise ourselves, our restlessness and insecurity" George Szirtes

Something inside will not let me be . . .

Daan Heerma van Voss is not just anxious. According to tests on the cortisone levels in his hair, he is seventy-four times as anxious as the average person. And that makes him hard to live with.

When another relationship is broken by his crippling fears, the only way to cope is to get to the roots of his condition. But he also wants to dig deeper and tackle the big questions. Why are 264 million people worldwide suffering from anxiety, and why is this number growing every day? Is it hereditary? Is there a link with creativity? And how can you love when you're living in a constant state of fear?

In his quest for answers, he takes us on a profoundly moving journey from his apartment in Amsterdam to France, Jakarta and San Francisco. Along the way we'll meet philosophers, artists, writers and other fascinating individuals from around the world. But this is also a journey through literature, the classics, the history of anxiety and the science behind it.

Timely, learned and heartfelt, The Anxiety Project fuses the sharp musings of a curious mind with a raw and honest dissection of a relationship undercut by fear. It will appeal to anyone trying to remain calm on our very nervous planet.

Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty