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Staff Picks View other newsletters  |  Read books in your email Against Medical Advice: One Family's Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery by James Patterson Published 2008 by Little Brown and Company Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780316024754 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: In this nonfiction work with the pace of a thriller, Patterson tells the extraordinary and dramatic true story of one family's struggle with an agonizing medical mystery that began when the Friedmans' five-year-old son began having irrepressible tics and involuntary utterances.Little, Brown and Company Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet Published 2007 by Free Press Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781416535072 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: One of the worlds only 50 living autistic savants is the first to tell his compelling and inspiring life story, and explain how his incredible mind works. While Tammets brain has amazed scientists for years, readers will be moved by this remarkable mans story. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 12/04/2006 This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome. Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer, Tammet, the subject of the 2005 documentaryBrainman , learned Icelandic in a single week and recited the number pi up to the 22,514th digit, breaking the European record. He also experiences synesthesia, an unusual neurological syndrome that enables him to experience numbers and words as "shapes, colors, textures and motions." Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements, which include teaching in Lithuania, achieving financial independence with an educational Web site and sustaining a long-term romantic relationship. As one of only about 50 people living today with synesthesia and autism, Tammet's condition is intriguing to researchers; his ability to express himself clearly and with a surprisingly engaging tone (given his symptoms) makes for an account that will intrigue others as well.(Jan.) The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch Published 2008 by Hyperion Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781401323257 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Based on the extraordinary final lecture by Carnegie Mellon University professor Pausch, given after he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, this moving book goes beyond the now-famous lecture to inspire readers to live each day with purpose and joy. Photos. Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison Published 2007 by Crown Publishers Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780307395986 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Look Me in the Eye" is the moving, darkly funny story of growing up with Aspergers at a time when the diagnosis simply didnt exist. A born storyteller, Robison takes readers inside the head of a boy who teachers and other adults regarded as defective. Its a strange, sly, indelible account; sometimes alien yet always deeply human. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 07/09/2007 Robison's thoughtful and thoroughly memorable account of living with Asperger's syndrome is assured of media attention (and sales) due in part to his brother Augusten Burroughs's brief but fascinating description of Robison inRunning with Scissors . But Robison's story is much more fully detailed in this moving memoir, beginning with his painful childhood, his abusive alcoholic father and his mentally disturbed mother. Robison describes how from nursery school on he could not communicate effectively with others, something his brain "is not wired to do," since kids with Asperger's don't recognize "common social cues" and "body language or facial expressions." Failing in junior high, Robison was encouraged by some audiovisual teachers to fix their broken equipment, and he discovered a more comfortable world of machines and circuits, "of muted colors, soft light, and mechanical perfection." This led to jobs (and many hilarious events) in worlds where strange behavior is seen as normal: developing intricate rocket-shooting guitars for the rock band Kiss and computerized toys for the Milton Bradley company. Finally, at age 40, while Robison was running a successful business repairing high-end cars, a therapist correctly diagnosed him as having Asperger's. In the end, Robison succeeds in his goal of "helping those who are struggling to grow up or live with Asperger's" to see how it "is not a disease" but "a way of being" that needs no cure except understanding and encouragement from others.(Sept.) Manic: A Memoir by Terri Cheney Published 2008 by William Morrow & Company Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780061430237 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: In the tradition of "Girl, Interrupted" and "An Unquiet Mind" comes this heartbreaking, beautifully written memoir of one womans experience with bipolar disorder. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 11/19/2007 Cheney, a former L.A. entertainment lawyer, pointedly dispels expectations of a "safe ride" through this turbulent account of bipolar disorder. With evocative imagery-time-shuffled recollections meant to mirror her disorienting extremes of mood-Cheney conjures life at the mercy of a brain chemistry that yanks her from "soul-starving" despair to raucous exuberance, impetuous pursuits to paralyzing lethargy. Caught in a riptide of febrile impulse, she caroms from seductions to suicide attempts while flirting recklessly with men, danger and death, only to find more hazards in the drastic side effects of treatment. More than a train-wreck tearjerker, the memoir draws strength from salient observations that expose the frustrations of bipolar disorder, from its brutal sabotage of romance and friendship to the challenge it poses to the simplest emotions, such as "the terrors of being happy" that augur mania's onset. Though she sustains an ominous mood and relays horrifying incidents with icy candor, Cheney lightens up at times, as when she marvels at the ease of masking her condition at an office that brings out everyone's manic side. But the narrative hopscotch frustrates readers' need for grounding and context that might clear up Cheney's muddled history and satisfy readers' urge to learn the fallout of her impulse-driven episodes. Her startlingly lucid descriptions of illness merit a more concise chronology. (Feb.) My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor Published 2008 by Viking Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780670020744 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: A brain scientistas journey from a debilitating stroke to full recovery becomes an inspiring exploration of human consciousness and its possibilities On the morning of December 10, 1996 Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain a the rational, grounded, detail and time-oriented side a swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely. In "My Stroke of Insight," Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of December 10th. Today Taylor is convinced that the stroke was the best thing that could have happenedto her. It has taught her that the feeling of nirvana is never more than a mere thought away. By "stepping to the right of our left brains," we can all uncover the feelings of well-being and peace that are so often sidelined by our own brain chatter. A fascinating journey into the mechanics of the human mind, "My Stroke of Insight" is both a valuable recovery guide for anyone touched by a brain injury, and an emotionally stirring testimony that deep internal peace truly is accessible to anyone, at any time. Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff Published 2008 by Ginee Seo Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781416913627 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It's a harrowing portrait -- but not one without hope. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 02/25/2008 A memoir written in the present tense, Sheff's first book graphically if self-indulgently recounts his addictions to various drugs, including meth and heroin, and his attempts at recovery as he reaches his early 20s. His narrative begins as he relapses, not for the first time, after 18 months of sobriety, taking readers down an exhausting spiral that includes a naïve attempt at dealing drugs; burglarizing his father's house; hooking up with a vulnerable ex-girlfriend and calling 911 after she overdoses; sleeping and shooting up in his car; and going back into detox. The cycle then repeats, in all its minute details. Flashbacks recall a privileged San Francisco childhood riven by divorce, youthful promise and subsequent degradation (prostitution, stealing from his young half-siblings). Nic's absorption in himself, often expressed as self-contempt, makes much of his account read like a therapeutic exercise, especially given its repetitious nature. While it's tempting to ask if Nic's journalist father's version of the same events, in Beautiful Boy (Nonfiction Reviews, Apr. 30, 2007), supplies the insights missing here, this book's unmediated, down-and-headed-for-disaster sensibility may, for some teen readers, produce the same transfixing quality as a highway accident. Ages 15-up. (Feb.) 10/01/2007 REVIEW: School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-This graphic and detailed memoir painfully depicts the author's addiction to methamphetamines and his tortuous, tentative journey to health. It is a companion to his father's seering and guilt-ridden memoir of witnessing Nic's gradual slide into drugs, Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction (Houghton, 2008). As a child and teenager, Sheff lived with his father, stepmother, and siblings in a California home with much love and understanding, and it's not clear why he began his descent into drugs. He started drinking at 11, smoked pot at 12, and became addicted to methamphetamines (and other hard drugs) when he was 17. He blames his addiction on genes and maybe the trauma of a broken family. But it's clear from his anguished narrative that he simply was not at peace with himself and his environment. Sheff narrates his story with many flashbacks that document in excruciating detail the drug underworld and how he dragged others whom he loved and himself down into a seemingly bottomless pit of despair. The author, in recovery (though not for the first time), nonetheless ends his memoir on a note of hope.-Jack Forman, Mesa College Library, San Diego Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher Published 2008 by Simon & Schuster Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781439102251 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: An uproariously sober look at Fisher's Hollywood hangover reveals what it was "really" like to grow up as a celebrity daughter, come of age on the set of "Star Wars," and become a cultural icon at the age of 19--with no holds barred. Photos. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 11/03/2008 Fisher has fictionalized her life in several novels (notably Postcards from the Edge), but her first memoir (she calls it "a really, really detailed personals ad") proves that truth is stranger than fiction. There are more juicy confessions and outrageously funny observations packed in these honest pages than most celebrity bios twice the length. After describing how she underwent electroshock therapy for her manic depression, Fisher then sorts through her life as her memories return. She predicts that by the end of the book, "you'll feel so close to me that you'll want to divorce me." At one point, this daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher ("one an icon, the other an arm piece to icons") hilariously diagrams her family tree of Hollywood marriages and remarriages to make sure her daughter's potential date is not a relative. Revealing that at 15 she got a vibrator for Christmas from her mother, she writes, "You might be thinking that a lot of the stories I'm telling you are over the top... but you can't imagine what I'm leaving out." With acerbic precision and brash humor, she writes of struggling with and enjoying aspects of her alcoholism, drug addiction and mental breakdowns. Her razor-sharp observations about celebrity, addiction and sexuality demand to be read aloud to friends. (Dec.)