Hyper-chondriac: One Man's Quest To Hurry Up And Calm Down

The "Esquire" and "Vanity Fair" humor columnist wipes out on the road to Wellville in this bitingly funny memoir about one man's frantic lifelong search for inner peace.

Does your blood pressure surge if the car in front of you turns without signaling? Do your neck veins pulsate when a cashier takes too long to ring you up? Does relaxing seem like it'll have to wait until you're dead? Then your name could very well be Brian Frazer.

On paper, Frazer is the world's healthiest guy. He eats right, exercises regularly, gets plenty of sleep, has never smoked and has missed only one day of flossing in the last five years. But inside he's a swirling vortex of angst, capable of contracting a new malady every month. Once Frazer realized that all his ills were tied to stress, he went on a quixotic quest for calm, venturing into everything from Tai Chi, serotonin blockers and Kabbalah to an unfortunate incident involving pineapple-chicken curry at a Craniosacral therapy session. Never has the road to wellville taken so many unforeseen turns.

Achingly funny, uncomfortably true and always entertaining, "Hyperchondriac" is just the medicine for anyone who wants to take it down a notch.