Touched by Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament: A Book Review

July 31, 20194 Comments

The definitive work on the profound and surprising links between manic-depression and creativity, from the bestselling psychologist of bipolar disorders who wrote An Unquiet Mind.

One of the foremost psychologists in America, “Kay Jamison is plainly among the few who have a profound understanding of the relationship that exists between art and madness” (William Styron).

The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers, and musicians. Her work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness.

-Goodreads

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Book Review: Mere Christianity

July 26, 2018July 26, 2018Leave a comment

Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis’s forceful and accessible doctrine of Christian belief. First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three separate books – The Case for Christianity, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality – Mere Christianity brings together what Lewis saw as the fundamental truths of the religion. Rejecting the boundaries that divide Christianity’s many denominations, C.S. Lewis finds a common ground on which all those who have Christian faith can stand together, proving that “at the centre of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks the same voice.”

-Goodreads

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Book Review: Wild

June 28, 2015January 8, 20163 Comments

I waited way to long to review this, because now the hype about it has died down… but in fairness, that’s also a good thing because it means that maybe I can hype it back up a little. Because this book was amazing! I read it in big chunks, because it had a lot of natural stopping points. The story itself has some heart breaking moments in it, but they gave it depth and meaning.

It’s a story of a journey to move forward in life, and while reading it I remember thinking where is it? Where is the big epiphany? And that’s the thing, there wasn’t one. It’s a slow process that hit her a little at a time, just like it hits the reader. So for a while I was looking for something big I was wondering if the book was going to leave me unsatisfied. But I can tell you the moment I finished this book I let out that deep sigh and nodded my head to myself. It was brilliant, and that’s saying something because this isn’t the type of book I’m normally drawn too.

4 out of 5 stars.

Mud Season and Smart Water

December 28, 2014December 28, 20142 Comments

I’ve been diving into life a little more over the past week, which for me means less time on tumblr, more time outside or, in today’s case, inside and reading. I picked up this lovely gem the day after Christmas. It’s about the most unfit for farm life people moving to the countryside of Vermont and it’s very amusing, but it’s got an under layer to it of nice life lessons, I suppose. It’s a quick read and I’m enjoying it even though I’m only fifty pages in. You can find it on goodreads: here. And my mother got me some smart water for Christmas, which I love, though never buy because of the price. Along with a few pieces of chocolate, what could go wrong?