Continuing Education for Psychologists

MAN, INTERRUPTED
Why Young Men Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It

In 2011, Philip Zimbardo gave a TED Talk called "The Demise of Guys," which has been viewed by over 1.8 million people. A TED eBook short followed that chronicled how in record numbers men are flaming out academically and failing socially and sexually with women. This new book is an expansion of that brief polemic based on Zimbardo's observations, research, and the survey that was completed by over 20,000 viewers of the original TED Talk.

The premise here is that we are facing a not-so-brave new world; a world in which young men are getting left behind. Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Coulombe say that an addiction to video games and online porn have created a generation of shy, socially awkward, emotionally removed, and risk-adverse young men who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school, and employment. Taking a critical look at a problem that is tearing at families and societies everywhere, Man, Interrupted suggests that our young men are suffering from a new form of "arousal addiction," and introduce a bold new plan for getting them back on track.

The concluding chapters offer a set of solutions that can be affected by different segments of society including schools, parents, and young men themselves.

Filled with telling anecdotes, results of fascinating research, perceptive analysis, and concrete suggestions for change, Man, Interrupted is a book for our time. It is a book that informs, challenges, and ultimately inspires.

Philip Zimbardo is a psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became well-known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment and has since authorized various introductory psychology books, textbooks for college students, and other notable works, including The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and Shyness (all found elsewhere in this catalog). He is also the founder and president of the Heroic Imagination Project. Nikita Coulombe is a writer and artist who worked with Philip Zimbardo for several years. Together, they co-authored the TED eBook Demise of Guys. She also is the co-founder of the sex education blog, BetterSexEd.org.

"In this entertaining, sobering, and thought-provoking book, Dr. Zimbardo bravely and wisely calls attention to the spreading crisis afflicting many of America's young men.
--Roy Baumeister, author of Is There Anything Good About Men? and Willpower

"What this book might lack in causal clarity, it makes up for with lucid and compassionate solutions for improving the lives of young men."
--Publishers Weekly

"Man Interrupted: Why Young Men Are Struggling And What We Can Do About It is a compassionate look at the phenomenon of young men disappearing into the virtual worlds of videogaming and porn -- to the detriment of everyone. Authors Zimbardo and Coulombe don't simply supply evidence of the risks and benefits of today's hyper-alluring technologies. They also tackle contributing factors, such as absent dads, failing schools, environmental toxins, economic realities, etc., and offer a range of suggestions for parents, media, governments, men, women and schools."
--Gary Wilson, author of Your Brain On Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction

"Man, Interrupted is the most important book I've read in years, given that it is thoroughly researched, well-organized, beautifully written, and outlines a problem that affects at least half the population of the country, if not everyone. Even more, it identifies the causes and suggests practical solutions. This book should be read by legislators, judges, politicians, parents, spouses and, well, men?all of them."
--Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, columnist Scientific American, author of The Moral Arc

"Zimbardo has put his finger on a great challenge of the modern era, which is how to hang on to the social skills that humanity has accrued over centuries now that virtual reality has no need for them."
--Eleanor Mills, The Sunday Times