5 comments about The Story of My Life.

1. Great book about a great lady who was blind and deaf. She had many struggles but became a speaker and a writter. I received the book right away without any problem, and it great condition.



2. Most moving and inspiring book I have ever read. It should be required reading in all elementary schools throughout the world. I could go on and on, but that should suffice.
   
   James Donovan
   Del Mar, CA



3. A deaf dumb and blind girl, but no pinball. Helen Keller, bereft of the senses that your average person is able to utilise, has to learn other ways to communicate. She is instrumental in forming systems that will lay the foundation to enable other people so afflicted to do the same, with the work she does herself, and with her tutors.
   
   Well worth a look.



4. Helen Keller gives a sweetly innocent rundown of her life in this brief book. It's just enough to get a glimpse into her well publicized transformation into a girl lost in her own inability to communicate to a wonderfully prolific soul; a person who changed the world. She is disarming and self aware and isn't afraid to gloss over a little bit of the struggle to paint a journey of searching that led to many rivers of experience. It's a charming book and if one is curious about Helen Keller it is best to 'hear' the words from the author than another source.



5. The Story Of My Life was a life-changing book for me. The reason for this is because I never thought that a person who had no power could do so much and have so much of it. As soon as I read this book it made me feel that no matter how small you are you can accomplish your dreams and goals. My opinion about this book is that it taught me that even if you are disabled, like Helen Keller you can still do many things. I think what Helen Keller did was outstanding because even though she was blind, deaf, and only a kid she did some indescribable things. I think this book will be a page-turner for people in middle school and up. This has inspired me to do anything and believe that I can accomplish many goals that I have.

5 comments about Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey.

1. This book is an engaging, fast read. I was especially interested in Rachel Simon's flashbacks. We learn what caused her mental retardation, we see her experiences and Rachel's, we also suffer with the children as mom continues in a downward spiral. All of these flashbacks, distinguished by italic font, are worthy of a book all their own.
   
   Beth Simon is hard to like. She is loud, immature, unhygenic, and self-centered. She is also capable of holding down a job- she just chooses not to. What makes it worse is that she tells her fellow passengers that she doesn't work because she doesn't want to- always reminding them of her disability check. What type of endurance would you need, if you were riding the bus with Beth, heading to your job? Many people can't handle it. And Beth is oblivious to the reasons why people dislike her- she's a capable woman who won't better herself.
   
   In Rachel's relationship with Beth, the story is not sugar-coated. Rachel gets very annoyed with Beth: ' Damn it Beth, shut up! my dark voice erupts. Look at you- same expression, same seat, same stupefying conversation.
   and
   "When I started riding the buses, I remember, I thought of the people who didn't like Beth as insensitive and narrow-minded. Now I find myself more sympathetic to their point of view. Yes, some of them are coarse and offensively vocal. But she is so loud. And she talks all the time. About nothing. I know many of us babble on about nothing, too, but she does it over and over and over- and over and over and over- and it's really eroding the limits of my endurance. Dad used to tell us he came to dread their car rides to work for precisely the same reasons. That was twenty years ago."
   
   However, Rachel's interaction with every bus driver are so profound. She always seems to be learning something from them. And it's always about how they changed their philosophies so they could lead happier lives. Ugh, it was too corny and simplistic for me!
   
   Further, I was uninterested in how Rachel changed in relations to men and other people. I only wanted to see her relationship with Beth. Yes, Rachel Simon gives Beth and the bus rides credit for changing her life- but I really have no desire to know anything else about Rachel Simon in the late 90s (when the story takes place). Tell me more about Beth, including more altercations with drives and passengers, more about her obsessions with the drivers, more about her self-centered domination of every bus ride.
   
   " Beth is ignoring the parade of costumes in the street and gazing adoringly at Cliff- and with a jolt, I know what scares me.
   It's not just the same old crush with a new face, or the same olf song with the same wrong words. It's not just the pattern she doesn't see, or care about, and therefore cannot or will not change.
   It's that Beth seems to need a cataclysmic event for her to change in any way- an event like our mother's complete abdication of her responsibility to protect her own child, Juanita's rejection, or Rodolpho's abandonment. This seems true whether she's being called upon to develop resorucefulness, assertiveness, or just basic self-restraint. I look at her and feel a clutch in my throat. What will it take now?
   Is this all there will ever be to her life? "



2. This is not a book I would have chosen, but I read it for my book club and was pleasantly surprised. When I saw an endorsement from Rosie O'Donnell on the front cover of this book, I was expecting something more sentimental, along the lines of a Lifetime Channel movie, to lie within the pages. Instead, I found a powerful tribute to people on society's fringe and a meaningfully insightful story.
   
   The story centers around a workaholic writer/teacher, Rachel Simon, who runs out of ideas for her newspaper work and decides to spend a year shadowing her mildly mentally retarded sister, Beth. Beth has chucked working and living in a group home for a hedonistic life in her own apartment, filling her days happily riding the city's busses. Simon takes what could be a boring or sappy story and makes something marvelous out of Beth's mundane, repetitive life by her keen observation and analysis of the details of this routine. She does an excellent job of looking at life through Beth's eyes and of showing how the mentally challenged are at times similar to the rest of us and yet at other times vastly different and difficult to comprehend.
   
   Naturally Beth's efforts to live independently in the manner she desires create enormous frustration for her family and even the professionals involved in her "case." How to help someone in Beth's situation is complicated. How much help can family and professionals give versus how much help should they give? How many decisions can she safely, competently make on her own? Simon shows us that there are no easy answers, as she attempts to establish her own place in her sister's life.
   
   The book is beautifully written, hard to put down, and filled with insights and wisdom that would make Irma Bombeck proud. The author was surprised at how much she learned from Beth's limitations and her world, and you will be too.



3. I found this book to be very interesting and moving. It has really made a mark on my heart. I have a special needs child who unlike "Cool Beth" is not treated differently by many, yet sees some of the same prejudices. It was nice to read a book that shows how a person can live on their own and have the same things that so called "normal" people can. I appreciated that Beth knew right from wrong and is not afraid to express that to the world around her. We can all learn from that. The annoyance that Rachel gets from Beth is such a tough feeling for a sibling/parent, but a genuine one and written with such truth. This will not be enjoyed by all, but all can learn from it.



4. This book isn't for everyone, but anyone who lives with a mildy retarded family member will see this book as an eye-opening and touching memoir of the highs and lows of living and coping and dealing with a person such as Beth, the author's sister, with whom she agrees to ride the city buses with over the course of a year.
   
   The chapters are beautifully interweaved with flashbacks to the author's childhood with Beth, who is 18 months younger than the author. The parents' coping with Beth, and how the rest of the family deals with this headstrong and independent girl without once ever mentioning the words "mild retardation" and yet determined to keep together as a family in the early 1960s bring this book to life for many Babyboomers. Rachel did a lot of research on the subject to write for this book, and inserts statistics at logical moments without ever tiring the reader.
   
   Along with the encounters on the bus are small vignettes of the various and varied drivers who deal with Beth on a daily basis. Bus drivers are profiled coming from all aspects of society. Some like Beth, others do not, and many came forward to talk about Beth and her incessant chats while sitting in the front of crowded buses with strangers all around her. Bus drivers are her friends, are her mentors, are her romantic interests and Beth at times reminds us of our girlish teenage crushes...and she is 39 years old while the story takes place.
   
   Although this book mostly deals with Beth and her daily bus rides around town, the author also talks about her own failings; her recent break-up, her move to a new apartment, and we see how dealing with Beth, and talking with bus drivers, help Rachel find the answers for her own troubles.
   
   This book may not be for everyone. One must have a close experience with a person such as Beth to understand the many detailed and sometimes long-drawn-out episodes of city bus travel to truly appreciate this book. Beth is beautifully portrayed in this book, and with all her flaws and handicaps we can see a bit our ourselves through her daily bus journeys.
   
   Read this book with patience and understanding for the mildy retarded people in our society. We all know and have dealt with our own Cools Beths.



5. Okay, so maybe not the most original title in the world, but the story sure is. The author decides to spend some quality time with her mildly retarded sister, Beth, (whom she never fully understood). Simons basically takes a very long leave of absence from work and totally immerses herself in Beth's world - which consists mainly of riding the bus system in an unnamed Pennsylvania city. But this is not just a simple journey. She experiences how Beth has carved out a life for herself, the people she has connected with, the joyful outlook she has on life, and realizes that maybe Beth's life is fulfilling in its own way. This is also a journey through her childhood as she
   reflects on her memories, her relationship with her family as well as her sister. By slowing down her fast-paced existence and taking the time to experience a year with her sister, Simons certainly discovers a lot about herself, and comes away with a different, more appreciative view of her life. Hopefully you will too. I know I did.

5 comments about Ryan White: My Own Story.

1. Today is World AIDS Day and each year I remember my childhood friend, Ryan White. His sister and I were both Rollerskaters and skated in the same skating rinks. Knowing Ryan personally and having his book for years now, it is still a story that resonates with me. It is true, thoughtful, and in his own words.
   
   I'll never forget the hatred the spewed from the city of Kokomo against him. It was such a devastating blow to his well being. Not only did he have this death sentence, but the entire town was treating him worse than what you would treat a pig going to slaughter. I am not joking. I remember seeing him at the skating rink one day, it was a time when he wasn't as sick so he was able to be a kid. I went up to him to give him a hug because I hadn't seen him in so long and he said, "You want to hug ME?" He was shocked that someone would want to touch him. That's how bad it was.
   
   Read his book. He is the reason people with AIDS are accepted now. This friend of mine had more courage than anyone I have ever met.



2. i really loved this book if i was born around his time i would have been his friend i love how he stood up for his beliefs and went back to school in stuff even though he didn't get to gradulate, but he still lived a great in fun life it was short but he did things with it i'm young but my aunt past away with AIDS and after reading this book it really touch me i was crying because i felt so bad what ryan went though but he didn't let it get to him. He was so strong he got people believing again.



3. In fifth grade we were introduced to an illness called AIDS. We also learned about a boy named Ryan White. I took an interest to this story because I have an illness called diabetes and have to deal with how different people react and treat me because of it. Just like Ryan and AIDS diabetes is not contagious and there are no know ways to prevent or cure it. I have heard many different reactions when they find out that I have Diabetes. The most commom being "Did you eat too much sugar or something?" Most of the time I just laugh at this and explain that you have no control over getting Diabetes. I took an interest in school that year and by doing so I found myself a role model...Ryan White.



4. When I was young I remeber a copy of People magazine that my mom had lying around with Ryan White on the cover. For some reason I always took an interest to him, and his life, and all the article that I could find on him. In high school I remeber reading part of it to do an exta credit project. Finally 2 year out of high school I decided to reread the story of his life. It is amazing how people really are. It really hit home, not living too far from Kokomo, Indiana where he was from, that people in my community would treat people this way. It is also amazing how much determination he had to be who he was and not let anyone or anything get in the way. This book is great!!!! Everyone should read it and put themselves in this families shoes!!



5. I read this book upon entering seventh grade. Ryan's story was so empowering and so honest that I often feel the need just to sit down and read a chapter by random. Everytime I read it I cry. This auto- biography has inspired me to help in the relief and research for AIDS. I have done reports on the disease and Ryan and teachers often comment about how passionate I am about the subject. This book changed the way I veiw life; a treasure that should'nt be wasted. Thank you Ryan.

5 comments about Angel Unaware: A Touching Story of Love and Loss.

1. This book is wonderful. It so beautifully written from the POV of little Robin giving an account to God of her brief life on earth. If there is a disabled child that has touched your life, you need to read this book. Dale Evans Rogers has written a masterpiece which will benefit the lives of many. Thank goodness God sent Robin into their lives!



2. My Aunt gave me this book to read when I was in grade school. I am now 42 years old and I still remember this book as being one of the most profound stories I have ever read. I have recommended this book often, I have never forgotten it.
   Such a touching reminder for all of us that life is divine and should never be taken for granted.



3. Until I real Dale Evans' account of her daughter's life, I didn't realize anyone felt the way I do. We lost our 2 1/2 year old daughter this year. She had "special needs," some similar to those of Robin in the book. We always felt that God gave us our daughter and she was our own angel here on earth. This book is a wonderful story of the love between a family, their God, and their special angel. I highly recommend it to any parent or family who have lost a child with a disability.



4. I read this book when I was in 4th or 5th grade. The story of Robin Rogers has stuck with me for 35 years. While I have forgotten the details, I remember the essential message. All children are gifts from God, especially the ones that aren't everyone's idea of perfect.



5. This little book is a heartwarming love story and a heart wrenching tear jerker all rolled into one. Dale Evans Rogers shares the tale of little Robin, her Down Syndrome daughter who died at a very young age. The story is told from Robin's point of view, as if she is sitting on her heavenly father's knee relating what happened "down there." The heartache of a mother's loss, and the hope of a child's eternity are entwined in an unforgettable tale. I highly recommend this book to any one who has lost a young child, or has had to deal with special needs like Down Syndrome. Be sure to have a tissue box handy.

5 comments about One Way Ticket To Kansas: Caring About Someone With Borderline Personality Disorder And Finding A Healthy You.

1. This is your ticket to the start of a healed you! Ozzie_Tinman is the best pilot you can have in your journey to recover from the emotional scars caused by being affected by a borderline. Although the writing is hardly academic or professional, you will be given the best advice on how to start your journey to Kansas. Yes, the only way to save yourself is to LEAVE THE BORDERLINE FOR GOOD. Tips to remember:
   1.Ozzie_Tinman is a great pilot but YOU have to make all the arrangements for this flight and that includes getting the ticket, the passport and making sure you get a good seat and buckle up (these metaphors will make sense as you read the book).
   2. Don't get obsessed with reading about BPD- you don't need to become an expert - you need to heal yourself! I recommend "Boomerang Love" but that's about all you need.
   3. LEAVE, LEAVE , LEAVE - Don't assume the borderline will get better- according to the book for a borderline to cure itself it takes at least 4 years to happen and much therapy.
   4. Regain your self-esteem as that is what is preventing you from moving on!
   5. Kansas is a wonderful place that you have been before (you met the borderline) - you can get back there, difference is that you will be stronger, more beautiful, and much smarter than when you were before the borderline drained your soul!
   6. Think positive and don't dwell on then 10% of good times you had with the BPD- those were FAKE attempts made by the BPD to win you over so that the remanding 90% of time you suffered you will long for the good times to come back.



2. This book is really written for folks with family and friends who are either diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) or are exhibiting similar symptoms. I have both family and friends who have various psychological disorders including Borderline, Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety, Autism, etc. Information useful to many types of psychological disorders is included in this book. It hits head on a variety of symptoms and how to deal with them. While the focus is on BPD it has lots of how-to information for related or similar disorders.
   
   This is a great book. It's partly about the journey of the author "Ozzie" as he recounts dealing with his borderline wife. It's heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. Ozzie has had quite a tough time but he's handled it with a grace that I hope I can achieve.
   
   One Way Ticket To Kansas is also about educating us on symptoms, possible responses to behavior, access to support, etc. If you think you have someone near you with BPD you really should read this book. This is this kind of book I'll buy and give away to people needing the help. It's just that good.
   
   Best of the book: Chapter 7 "Ozzie Stinkin' Thinkin'" where Ozzie helps us understand how our own thinking becomes warped. Even better he helps us understand how to modify our thinking to become healthier for us, and at the same time possibly healthier for our loved one with BPD.
   
   Buy it now for immediate insight and support.
   
   I hope you enjoy One Way Ticket To Kansas.



3. This book is helpful to us ozzies (those without bipolar) and lets you know that what you are experiencing is not unusual. that others are going through exactly what you are also.



4. This book is a must have for all people who have a borderline person in their life. This book is an easy read and captures the true feelings a person without borderline personality disorder is experiencing. It has helped validate me as a person and has allowed me to move on. I highly recommend this book !!



5. In my opinion this is hands down the best book out there for dealing with someone with borderline personality disorder. Yes, there is SWOE and other books that are out there, but One Way Ticket To Kansas is the only book that I have come across that is writen from the perspective of a spouse. It is also the only book out there that explains in detail the eratic and seriouly disturbed behaviors the person with BPD directs at the person they are most intimately close to, the spouse. The information in One Way Ticket To Kansas is easy to read, entertaining, and the author has a knack for explaining the complexities of bpd in easy to understand terms. While the book is sensitive to the person with bpd, it also does not pull any punches either and gives an honest look at the effects to caring about someone with bpd. This book will make many light bulbs go off in your head, and help you realize that you have had the power all along to find happiness. It's empowering to the reader and focusses specifically on the reader, not the person with bpd. Once you start reading this book you will not want to put it down. Then you will read it again as you will emotionally connect with the author about so many aspect of your life. This is a must have book.

5 comments about Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life.

1. This is about the 7th copy of this book that I have purchased. I keep giving them away because the message is so poignant. It is a wonderful story of courage and acceptance in the face of death at too young an age. But - the story is not sad - the author finds the joys in life and the ability to face each day with a positive outlook.



2. I have read this book once a year at the end of winter since its publication because reading it is a great way to herald in the spring given its life-affirming message. As a disabled person, I find it particularly helpful, but I first started reading it a few years before I was disabled. I purchase at least one copy a year because I not only loan it out, I give it away. Such a gift it is.
   
   I also want to say to the people who are disappointed that Simmons doesn't let us into his pathos and pain: perhaps Simmons did not spend a very long time in pathos and pain, let alone want to write about it (living it may have been enough for him). I am disabled and my disability has left me with little social contact (in fact even my spouse left me because of my disability), and yet I am a happy person. It's not that I don't accept or honor my grief, but I spend more time loving life back rather than standing in the crashing waves shaking my fist at God. I suspect this was Simmons way as well.
   
   No doubt he could have written that other book and even made us laugh at his pain, but that was not the focus of his life. Research shows that happy people do not necessarily have more happy experiences--they just focus on those experiences more and are grateful just for the chance to be alive no matter the suffering. That's a lesson in and of itself.



3. Just a quick note to add my voice to others who love this book by the late Philip Simmons. As moving and beautiful and wise as any creative nonfiction ever written. As a professor of writing, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about life (and the death that makes life possible).



4. My brother was diagnosed with ALS this last October. I bought this book for everyone in my family...it has allowed us to cherish life and the moments we have with him. This is a great book and I recommend it 100%!!!



5. I didn't enjoy this book at all - its just not my type of book. I was expecting a biography of his life - but this book is a series of short stories about life in general, not necessarily the authors life.
   
   I guess I just didn't read the back cover properly.

3 comments about Change in the Weather: Life After Stroke.

1. CHANGE IN THE WEATHER: LIFE AFTER STROKE tells of a news anchorman at the peak of his life - and enjoying it - when he suffered a stroke. Mistreatment and misdiagnosis nearly cost him his life - and this memoir documents these issues, also following his rehabilitation from a massive stroke in which he lost some of his greatest gifts. A powerful account of triumph over harrowing physical issues evolves.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. 
   
   MarkMcEwen has written an excellent book for those who have had a stroke or are caring for someone who has had one. His positive message is one of hope for all.



3. I found Mark's book very informative. I am living with a father that had a stroke last year and it was interesting to compare the stroke and recovery process. The major differences between the stories is that my father is 81 and I found him within five minutes of the stroke so he was able to benefit from the clot busting medication. Many of the rehab exercises for my father are similar to Mark's. Until I read this book I had not been able to get this information from someone that had experienced stroke or was caregiver for a stroke patient. All too often when I spoke to someone that had a loved one suffer a stroke their story usually ended with a death shortly after the stroke. I'm thankful I found him so quickly and that he survived the clot busting medicine. They let you know when you sign the consent that your loved one might not survive it. That is an awesome responsibility for anyone. I've encouraged everyone I know to talk to their loved ones so they will know how you feel should they every have to make that decision for you.

5 comments about Recovered, Not Cured: A Journey Through Schizophrenia.

1. GET this book for yourself and anybody you know that might be influenced by schizophrenia. This biography clearly describes the struggle the author has with schizophrenia. Reading this completely helped me understand the confusion I had about schizophrenia and explained behavior and circumstances in a very heartfelt and real way. I've purchased copies for everybody I know that wants to learn more about schizophrenia.



2. I like to read personal accounts of mental illness. This book is an artwork. It is a pleasure to hold, read, and look at. It is well organized, very entertaining with many drawings made at different times of the author's illness. I felt he was very honest, humble and friendly.
   
   I like the fact that he is a young writer. I guess the book was written when he was just 30 years old, so many young readers can identify with his art and music.
   
   There are many reasons he recovered. Among them his supportive family, supportive friends, he took up humble jobs along his illness even though having a university degree, modern medicines, he was able to balance the pros and cons of his medicine's side effects and keep taking them, ...
   
   [...].



3. I read this book to make a recommendation to the Psychology teacher at the high school where I am the librarian. The teacher created an assignment for her classes where groups of kids would read a book together on a psychological condition in a book group type setting. I read many books on all different types of conditions over a fairly short period of time and then selected twelve books or so for her students to read. This book made the cut. I thought it was a very accessible book on the topic of schizophrenia in terms of language and length for high school students.
   
   I have talked to several of the students who were assigned this book and all seemed to think that the book did a good job explaining one person's story with schizophrenia without boring them with a lot of psychological/medical terminology.
   
   I will recommend this book to students who come to my library wanting to learn about schizophrenia.



4. I stumbled accidentally on this book. Running a search through the online database at a local library branch, the title popped up on the screen. I cross-referenced it with the opinions of other readers from Amazon.com and decided it'd be an interesting overview of this incredible disease - schizophrenia.
   
   I found out after checking the book out that it won the Australian Book of the Year for 2004, which intrigued me further. Having read it, I am also of the opinion that it deserves the award. The book is short and easy to read (in terms of narrative), but it reveals the complexities of the disease. The author narrates his experiences from the moments the symptoms appeared to the medication phase that restored order in his daily existence.
   
   The book is written in snippets of experiences and often the reader is hurled one story after another of the patient's psychosis, paranoia, search for codes or deciphering of codes and secret messages, the delusions of voices the author heard and his reactions to them. In addition to these experiences, he inserts numerous e-mails from other schizophrenia patients he'd received or read on mental illness-online boards, as well as messages from family members of mental patients and how they coped with them. Since he is a graphics designer by trade, he'd added plenty of visual representations of his internal torments.
   
   I recommend this book to all readers interested in learning about the symptoms of schizophrenia, how to seek treatment and how to learn to cope with the disease.
   
   -by Simon Cleveland



5. A must read for all friends, relatives and sufferers of what we term 'Mental Illness'. Richard has successfully given of his own experience with his struggle through schizophrenia in a unique and vivid manner. He draws upon his talent as an artist/musician and the resource of the internet chat lines for fellow sufferers points of view and comments on what it is like to experience a psychotic illness. His drawings express emotions and a state of mind which words can not.
   
   Easy to read and unlike many other books on the subject the outlook for the sufferer is not all doom and gloom.
   
   Richard's story is living proof that there is a recovered 'normal' life from schizophrenia.
   
   Thankyou Richard as you have helped me immensely with my journey through schizophrenia.

5 comments about The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton: A True Story of Conjoined Twins.

1. According to taste, Dean Jensen's "Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton" can be read as tragedy or triumph. After being on display almost all their lives, the Siamese twins at the end lived in quiet obscurity, clerking in a grocery. All their lives they had said that was how they wanted to finish.
   
   However, they had also wanted husbands and children, and they never got those.
   
   Unlike most Siamese twins, who have to deal with an array of deficits and health problems, Daisy and Violet Hilton were normal in every other way. Not just normal but, as we'd say today, gifted and talented.
   
   More remarkable than the link of flesh at the base of their spines was their sunny disposition, maintained somehow despite an infancy and childhood that was extremely restricted by a stepmother who didn't want anyone to see them for free.
   
   Their charm was their salvation. Although they were wickedly exploited, over their lives they repeatedly attracted devoted friends who rescued them time and again. These never were able to rescue the twins entirely from the exploiters, or from their own sad inability to judge boyfriends, but they kept the Hiltons from utter degradation.
   
   Jensen interprets their lives as an endless search for love, which he -- and they -- interpreted as romantic, sexual love. That escaped them, but they did enjoy and attract affectionate love, which, it may be, they were always too distracted to quite recognize.
   
   Jensen tells the story at a glacial pace but with plenty of detail. He rescues an amazing story. In the `20s, the Hilton Sisters were as celebrated -- and, briefly, as highly paid -- any of the characters of that wacky decade. Somehow they failed to make it into the popular histories along with such comparatively dull stars as Shipwreck Kelly.
   
   The Hiltons' story is a gold mine of irony, but Jensen is not an ironist. By a odd accident, the women ended up in the same place, North Carolina, where the first famous set of Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, had enjoyed the kind of life the sisters had longed for: surrounded by children in rural domesticity. Jensen fails to make the connection.



2. This was the BEST book that I have read in YEARS.
   The book held my interest.
   The story was great, along with the ending.
   It was not a fluffy gloss over of the twins, but an honest bare-bones account of their lives.
   It was happy, uplifting, tragic, and sad in all.
   The book truly made an impression on me.
   I think about these two girls often.
   It's been 100 years on Feb 5th 2008 since they were born.
   Buy it & read it.
   You will not be disappointed!



3. It may sound unbelieveable, but The Lives and Loves of Daisy and Violet Hilton is the best book that I have ever read. I am surprised at how emotionally involved I became with regards to the twins triumphs and tradgies. The book kept me in suspense from start to finish. I think that the author (Dean Jensen) did a fantastic and brilliant job of really getting you to know the sisters individually. He also touched on things going on in history at the time to help create a realistic and interesting setting. Great photos too. It was also fun to read the book and then watch Chained For Life. So wonderful to see the twins perform. I am encouraging all of my friends to read this incredible book.



4. F. Scott Fitzgerald, perceptibly hung over, possibly still drunk, eyed the Hilton sisters over breakfast at MGM Studios. Daisy and Violet had just strolled into the commissary, taking a single empty chair across from him. Daisy picked up a menu, and without looking at her sister, asked Violet what she planned on ordering. Fitzgerald turned pea-green, ran outside, and retched. The sisters were at MGM to star in the film Freaks.
   
   Daisy and Violet Hilton were pygopagus conjoined twins, united by a "cord of flesh" near the base of their spines. As described in Dean Jensen's biography, The Lives And Loves Of Daisy And Violet Hilton: A True Story Of Conjoined Twins, they were also clever, beautiful, and eminently likable women. And yet, Fitzgerald's reaction to them was uncommon only in manifestation. For something in the sister's irregular form converted even their most trivial activities into enchantments. In merely wanting breakfast, Daisy and Violet inspire our unseemly fascination, exposing us as gawkers, or moralists, or miserable, inconsiderate drunks.
   
   Born in England, Daisy and Violet were just infants when the Brighton press proclaimed the occurrence of "an extraordinary freak of nature." They were toddlers when championed by Harry Houdini. At sixteen, having conquered American midways, they attempted a transition typically blocked to "sideshow freaks": they tried to make it in Vaudeville. In their first performance, Daisy and Violet sang, played instrumentals, and charmed the crowd with tosses of brown curls. Then two young boys, dressed in tuxedoes, joined them onstage. Each took a twin by the hand. Music swelled and the foursome began to glide across the stage, "locked in a pas de quatre." The sold-out crowd erupted. They stood in applause. They cried "tears of joy." They dashed toward the box office to secure tickets for the next show.
   
   Such reactions, sparked at the sight of something as natural as teenagers dancing, explain Daisy and Violet's legendary success. It also inversely illustrates the more common, less noble, response they elicited: dehumanization. Given away by their unwed, terrified mother, the twins grew up chattel to guardians whose parental interest stopped at exploitation and appropriation. Even their first memories, "the movements of the visitor's hands which were forever lifting our baby clothes to see just how we were attached," recall their tragic position: trapped between those who used them and those who wanted only to look. Their childhood was replete with threats of being sent to the "asylum for monster children." They spent most of their time confined in a room - lest someone catch a free glimpse. Years later, while in the office of the attorney who would eventually emancipate them, Daisy and Violet were recounting their upbringing when they were interrupted by sobbing. The stenographer had begun to cry.
   
   Curiously, the empathy wrought by Jensen's faithful portrayal of Daisy's and Violet's lives is no prophylactic to the rubbernecking its details will inspire. It is easy to chastise the surgeons who wanted to saw the sisters apart, but upon the discovery that when Violet got drunk - which she often did - Daisy would get "a little buzzed," the teratologic glee is irresistible.
   
   This conflict resonates loudest in Jensen's chapters discussing the sisters' love lives. Readers will no doubt be moved by Daisy and Violet's inability to find lasting love outside themselves. They will decry the twenty-one states that refused, on moral grounds, to permit Violet to marry. They will disdain the reporters who pressed their eyeballs to the keyhole of Daisy's bridal suite. They will blame the public responsible for this media circus when her introverted husband runs off. And yet, when the reader's friends discover the Hiltons were conjoined twins, and ask the question that everyone asks, the reader will will be quick to answer: Yes, Daisy and Violet had sex, lots of it. Even Jensen, unflaggingly sympathetic as he is, seems unable to resist this salacious urge, ending his story with Daisy and Violet's most enduring "trebling," a burial plot shared with a man whom they never met.
   
   Had Daisy and Violet not been conjoined twins, their biography might well resemble that of those other Hilton sisters, circa 2050. The Hiltons sought and eventually rebuked public attention. The Hiltons learned those well-worn lessons of fleeting fame and wasted fortune. Such comparisons phosphoresce in Jensen's exposition, which can, at varying times, feel either rudimentary or dispensable. Yet, Jensen avoids melodrama. He evokes the Dickensian far more than he uses it as an adjective. And he is delightfully adept with anecdotes, a skill put to memorable use recounting a world populated by the likes of pugilistic bandleader Blue Steel; "flimflam man extraordinaire," Terry Turner; and a villain who actually named himself, Myer Myers. And besides, Daisy and Violet are not those other Hiltons. They were world famous: the Royal English Twins United, made singular by a slip of Mother Nature's hand, "grown together the way tomatoes on a vine sometimes do."



5. I just could not put this book down. These girls were vulnerable, tragic, and strong and heroic all at once. The author reports of a life I cannot imagine. Very well written and researched. DO NOT start reading this book unless you have all night to do so.

5 comments about Rewind, Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

1. Jeff Bell uses the metaphor of a tape player to describe his struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in his harrowing memoir, "Rewind, Replay, Repeat." Bell has been a successful radio personality for many years, which makes his willingness to come clean about his illness all the more remarkable. He is a doubter, who states, "I have all five of my senses, but tend not to trust any of them." Because he does not believe what he perceives, Bell mentally replays entire sequences of his life over and over again. He also revisits places to check that he has not harmed anyone or failed to do something essential. He calls his story "a tale of fear and torment and agony and shame."
   
   After experiencing a few OCD symptoms as a child, Bell enjoys a normal adolescence, goes on to college, earns an MBA, marries his college sweetheart, and starts a career in commercial radio. He and his wife, Samantha, have a little girl, Nicole. Everything is going wonderfully. Unfortunately, the peace of mind that he enjoyed for so many years is shattered when his OCD returns with a vengeance. He begins to obsess about a near-collision that occurs while he is piloting his father's boat. He spends hours worrying about some minor damage that he may have inflicted on someone else's cabin cruiser. Not only does he think about this event constantly, but he also visits the marina over and over to look for physical clues. This fixation on an unimportant incident takes over his life to such an extent that it begins to affect his marriage and his ability to concentrate at work. He stays up all night worrying, and his sleeplessness makes him groggy during the day. Rather than owning up to his condition, Bell makes a valiant effort to hide the truth from his colleagues, friends, and loved ones. He is living a double life and it is destroying him emotionally.
   
   Even after he reluctantly shares his secret with his family and agrees to seek help, the first therapist that Bell consults has no useful answers for him. Although his devoted wife is steadfast in her support of her beleaguered husband, she finds his behavior increasingly unsettling. After sixteen months of "pent-up rage," Bell curls up on the bathroom floor of his house and bawls like a baby. He is deteriorating and he has no idea what to do to make things better.
   
   "Rewind, Replay, Repeat" illuminates the agonizing world of doubters and checkers--those unfortunate souls who cannot leave well enough alone. OCD sufferers include: the woman who must unlock her front door repeatedly to check the stove; the driver who feels compelled to circle the block to make sure that he didn't run over a pedestrian; the terrified child who keeps asking his mother the same question a thousand times and is never satisfied with the answer; the washers who scrub their hands dozens of times a day until their skin is raw and painful; and the savers who hoard objects of no value until their homes resemble garbage dumps. Medical science has yet to pinpoint exactly what causes the brains of OCD patients to misfire.
   
   This is an intensely personal, painfully honest, and extremely detailed look at one man's journey into the abyss and back. After he learns that he has OCD, an incurable condition, Bell struggles for years to get his life under control with a combination of spiritual awakening, a support group, cognitive behavioral therapy, and drug treatment. "Rewind, Replay, Repeat" is an informative, touching, and vividly written first-person account that will give hope and comfort to OCD sufferers and their families. It is a welcome addition to other excellent non-fiction works on this subject that include the classic "The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing" by Judith Rappaport and "Brain Lock" by Jeffrey Schwartz.



2. I originally picked this gem up thinking it would be interesting to read from a psychological point of view. Once I started into it, though, I began to recognize certain elements of my own behavior. Though I would not say I am a full-blown OC, I do sometimes have obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors (probably as most people do at some time in their life). Just the title and him referring to the tapes that keep replaying in his brain was enough for me to squash my own destructive thoughts. Whenever I start wasting time on obsessive thoughts, I just think of his analogy of the tapes that keep playing, then rewinding and replaying. I then choose to shut the tape player off. Very freeing! A courageous and interesting story. Thank you for sharing, Mr. Bell.!



3. Fascinating look into the world of OCD -- spelled out in an informative, entertaining fashion.



4. I cannot recommend this account of a person's journey into the terrors of OCD highly enough. I suffer from OCD and read as much as I can on this topic, and this is the best personal story I have ever encountered on this subject. Without whining or blaming, the author carefully and honestly shares his torture. With a reporter's skills, he has us on the scene with him, feeling his agony and rooting for his recovery. A close friend who does not have OCD and borrowed my book was equally in awe of the author as she read of his struggle and his eventual recovery. I would recommend this book to family and friends of OCD sufferers as Jeff shares what his wife, children and parents went through during the height of his disorder. Professionals who treat OCD sufferers will benefit from it as well. It will be a real eye opener into our world. You will not be disappointed in this heartfelt, amusing, and heartbreaking story. This is a book I found extemely hard to put down. Please read this book.



5. This book brought me to tears. It so reminded me of my daughter's struggle with anxiety disorders. One thing that all people need to be reminded of is, Jeff, nor anyone with anxiety disorders, is ever cured. It is not overcome. It is coped with - sometimes better than other times. Your life and those around you are still affected by the disorder. You still have symptoms but are better able to not let them control you. This takes energy. If someone you know has anxiety disorders, remember this.