No comments about My Heavenly Visitors: A True Story of Archie's Angelic Guests.

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5 comments about Fevers of the Mind.

1. I think that Avery did an excellent job of taking us through his childhood into his adulthood, giving us insight to this wicked disease. It's always there in a person and much seems to get missed, until the diagnosis and even then, much still gets missed. I am the mother of a recently disgnosed 16 year old with bipolar.
   
   I think the person who stated that Avery cycled so much because he went on and off his meds so often missed the point. I think Avery wrote this book to 'teach' those with the disease, the importance of taking the meds on a consistent basis and to help those of us who love a person with bipolar to understand what they are going through more.
   
   I would love to talk with Avery. I too live in IN and West Lafayette isn't too far.
   
   I would recommend this book moreso for the people who love the person suffering. I would be fearful that my son would think it would be ok to go on and off the meds if he were to read this at his young age.



2. If anyone actually knew about this book, it could become a classic. I've read many different memoirs, including many mental illness memoirs, and this is probably the most entertaining one I've come across yet. Conner has a minimalistic writing style that I find very appealing, and the story moves at a very fast pace, in stark contrast to the boring drivel in books such as A Million Little Pieces and Prozac Nation. In comparison, most of the other mental illness memoirs are pretty bad, such as Electroboy, Detour, and Burn. I rank Fevers up there with the finest mental illness memoirs, such as Girl Interrupted and An Unquiet Mind.



3. As someone who has battled bipolar disorder for over 40 years (onset at age 13), I find it appalling that someone as "smart" as Mr. Conner (1510 on his SAT, near-perfect grades, "high" GRE scores, etc.) would pit his own knowledge against that of trained psychiatric professionals by indiscriminately starting-stopping-reducing dosages of meds. No wonder he cycled so frequently and so severly as he did. He states that he was running out of treatment options after having tried only Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Lithium, Depakote, Neurontin, two tricyclics and Zyprexa. When he's tried 34 meds, ECT and participated in a clinical trial (NIMH), as I have, to try to find a "cocktail" that works, then he'll be qualified to make that statement. I bought this book to be part of the library of a depression and bipolar support group that I facilitate; however, after reading it, I feel that it could foster irresponsible and even dangerous behavior in some very vulnerable people.



4. Fevers of the Mind is a great read that provides an honest narrative on what it means to live with and battle against a mental illness. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a family member or close friend diagnosed with depression or bipolar disease. While many of Conner's anecdotes were entertaining, I finished the book with a profound appreciation for all that he suffered through in his attempts at diagnosing and treating his illness. I imagine many of us have at one point or another fallen into a bleak despair, but reading about Conner's tribulations really put my experiences in perspective. Most importantly, Conner's story provides hope that disabling mental disorders can be overcome with the support of family and friends, meticulous application of the scientific method with regard to treatment, and a good deal of persistence.



5. I purchased this book hoping to glean some of the author's knowledge of the brain as it relates to bipolar illness. As I pondered though each incident in his very active life I kept waiting for the good stuff. Never found it. Instead I found a few pages of data relating drugs to dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. If you are looking for a portrayal of manic thinking you will find it here. If you are looking for answers, for a larger perspective, or even new, innovative, leading edge discoveries in the field you will not find it here.

1 comments about Little Girl.

1. $50 for a paperback from a vanity publisher? What the &^%_?

No comments about Time Is All We Have: Library Edition.

No comments about Needed: A true story of pain struggle, courage, and triumph.

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No comments about When Mother Came to Live: Coping With Alzheimer's.

No comments about One Moment at a Time: A Love Story.

1 comments about There's Nothing Like a Breast.

1. This book is a "true story" of one woman's struggle with breast cancer and her reasons for having reconstructive surgery. I believe that it is a good read not only for those who have had breast cancer, but also for the spouses and significant others of those dealing with breast cancer. It specifically deals with a single woman's struggle to maintain her sexuality, and also deal with the constant reminder of the surgery and all the trials and tribulations that came with the diagnosis of breast cancer. Some parts are somewhat sexually explicit, and this might bother some people. I think it took a great deal of courage for her to tell details of how all of this affected her life in so many ways.