False Memory, by Dean Koontz, Bantam, 1999, $26.95.

According to a poll I read a few years ago that I like to quote, the number one fear in North Americans is public speaking, followed by death. (Which begs the immediate joke that we'd rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy.)

I can empathize with both, but would hazard that right up there would be the fear of losing control of one's self. It's why some people won't do drugs or overindulge with alcohol; doing so is giving over control of yourself to the drugs or the drink. And it's why phobias are so frightening.

A phobia is an unreasonable fear. Those afflicted know it's unreasonable, yet their reaction will still range from general uneasiness to outright, debilitating terror. Many of us have a vague phobia about heights. But what if you're too afraid to venture out of your own...