THE CHRONICLES OF MANIA


Book Description

This book is not about bipolar disorder but, rather, what the severe mania and delusions associated with the illness can do to someone when it is unknown, unchecked, and unbridled for more than fifty years! Brian Walker’s entire life has been ruled and governed by the mania that results from being bipolar. This mania has driven him to do things so far and beyond the grade that, in many cases, his actions and behaviors seem to defy all boundaries of sensibility. Whether it’s building a two-man submarine to explore the subsea world in Fiji to inventing a toy of unbelievable success to creating a rocket to be the first person to the edge of space in a home-built missile, he has always pushed the limits of sanity in many of his projects. Even after decades of failures, where seemingly everything that he attempted to do was relegated to the trash heap of broken dreams, he always lived by the saying “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm!” Trying to thrive and survive in a “normal” world with an abnormal brain has never been easy. His life has been an ongoing effort to discover the “next big thing,” as well as to just be able to get through another day. And his journey thus far has been an amazing one!




The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe


Book Description

C. S. Lewis was a British author, lay theologian, and contemporary of J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.




Peeps


Book Description

A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman more interested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life. Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . . Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.




Born to Be Public


Book Description

An NPR Best Book of 2020 - An O, The Oprah Magazine Best LGBTQ Book of 2020 - An Electric Literature Favorite Nonfiction Book of 2020 - A Largehearted Boy Favorite Nonfiction Book of 2020 - A 2020 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Humor - One of Lambda Literary's "Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books of August 2020" - One of BuzzFeed's "15 Books From Smaller Presses You Won't Be Able to Put Down" - A Shondaland 15 Hot Books for Summer In this unique and hilarious debut memoir, writer and comedian Greg Mania chronicles life as a "pariah prodigy." From inadvertently coming out to his Polish immigrant parents, to immersing himself in the world of New York City nightlife, and finding himself and his voice in comedy. Born to Be Public is a vulnerable and poignant exploration of identity (and the rediscovery of it), mental health, sex and relationships, all while pursuing a passion with victories and tragicomic blunders. At once raw and relatable, Mania's one-of-a-kind voice will make you shed tears from laughter and find its way into your heart. PRAISE FOR BORN TO BE PUBLIC "This is a gift of a book from a young writer who seems likely to become a comedy star." - NPR "Comedic gold." - O, The Oprah Magazine "There's a lot of humanity in these pages, and it's a humanity that Mania renders with both tenderness and hilarity." - BuzzFeed "An impressive humorist with a voice all his own." - Kirkus Reviews "Greg Mania is one of the funniest up-and-coming writers cranking out work and he is finally releasing his laugh-out-loud memoir....Come for the laughs, stay for the heartwarming story of coming out in the most millennial way possible." - Electric Literature "Unafraid to tell the messy truths about identity, sex, mental health, and ambition, Mania's memoir is relatable and fun to read at the same time that it is heartfelt and honest. It even has photos, which are pure gold." - Shondaland "A smashing debut." - Lambda Literary "Greg Mania is the Cheesecake Factory of writers, and I say that with the utmost reverence: extravagant, unapologetic, hilarious, and f*cking good." - Lindy West, author of Shrill and The Witches Are Coming "This book is a hilarious wonder. Not only does it prove that Greg Mania was, indeed, born to be a public (and beloved) icon, but also that he was born to be a celebrated writer. It's sheer delight." - Alissa Nutting, author of Tampa and Made for Love




Haldol and Hyacinths


Book Description

With candor and humor, a manic-depressive Iranian-American Muslim woman chronicles her experiences with both clinical and cultural bipolarity. Born to Persian parents at the height of the Islamic Revolution and raised amid a vibrant, loving, and gossipy Iranian diaspora in the American heartland, Melody Moezzi was bound for a bipolar life. At 18, she began battling a severe physical illness, and her community stepped up, filling her hospital rooms with roses, lilies and hyacinths. But when she attempted suicide and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, there were no flowers. Despite several stays in psychiatric hospitals, bombarded with tranquilizers, mood-stabilizers, and anti-psychotics, she was encouraged to keep her illness a secret—by both her family and an increasingly callous and indifferent medical establishment. Refusing to be ashamed or silenced, Moezzi became an outspoken advocate, determined to fight the stigma surrounding mental illness and reclaim her life along the way. Both an irreverent memoir and a rousing call to action, Haldol and Hyacinths is the moving story of a woman who refused to become a victim. Moezzi reports from the frontlines of an invisible world, as seen through a unique and fascinating cultural lens. A powerful, funny, and moving narrative, Haldol and Hyacinths is a tribute to the healing power of hope and humor.




Marbles


Book Description

Cartoonist Ellen Forney explores the relationship between “crazy” and “creative” in this graphic memoir of her bipolar disorder, woven with stories of famous bipolar artists and writers. Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Flagrantly manic and terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity, she began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passions and creativity. Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist, she finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath. She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications, and what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to “cure” an otherwise brilliant mind. Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney’s memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist’s work, as she shares her own story through bold black-and-white images and evocative prose.




Fat Chance


Book Description

During the early 1990s, the diet drugs fen-phen and Redux achieved tremendous popularity. The chemical combination was discovered by chance, marketed with hyperbole, and prescribed to millions. But as the drugs' developer, pharmaceutical giant American Home Products, cashed in on the miracle weight-loss pills, medical researchers revealed that the drugs caused heart valve disease. This scandal was, incredibly, only the beginning of an unbelievable saga of greed. In Fat Chance, Rick Christman recounts a story that a judicial tribunal later described as "a tale worthy of the pen of Charles Dickens." Bill Gallion, Shirley Cunningham, and Melbourne Mills contrived to bring a class-action lawsuit against American Home Products in Covington, Kentucky. Their hired trial consultant, Mark Modlin, had a bizarre relationship with the presiding judge, Jay Bamberger of Covington, who was once honored as the Kentucky Bar Association's "Judge of the Year." Soon after, Stan Chesley, arguably the most successful trial attorney in the United States, joined the class-action suit. Ultimately, their efforts were rewarded with $200 million for the 431 plaintiffs, and the four lawyers immediately began to plunder their clients' money. When the fraud was discovered, two of the attorneys received long prison sentences and another was acquitted after claiming an alcoholism defense. All four were permanently banished from the practice of law and Judge Bamberger was disbarred and disrobed. Recounting a dramatic affair that bears conspicuous similarities to opioid-related class-action litigation against the pharmaceutical industry, Christman offers an engaging, if occasionally horrifying, account of one of America's most prominent product liability cases and the settlement's aftermath.




The Dark Side of Innocence


Book Description

From the "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Manic: A Memoir" comes a gripping and eloquent account of the awakening and unfolding of Cheney's bipolar disorder.




The Narnia Code


Book Description

C S Lewis' Narnia books have delighted millions of readers with their captivating otherworld. In this compelling book, Lewis scholar Michael Ward reveals deeper layers of meaning encrypted in the Narnia series, drawing on medieval cosmology and symbolism. - Koorong The Narnia books are mysterious. Millions of people have been captivated by them, but are left with unanswered questions. Why are there seven books? Are they biblical allegories? If so, why do four of them seem to have no biblical basis? Why do they lack uniformity? Why does Father Christmas appear in them? In The Narnia Code Michael Ward attempts to answer this puzzle. Drawing on Lewis' love of Medieval astronomy, Ward breaks the Narnia 'code' and demonstrates the single theme that provides the link between all seven books. The author takes us through each of the seven Chronicles of Narnia and draws from the whole range of Lewis' other works to reveal the secret. Based on a groundbreaking scholarly work (Planet Narnia, OUP) that entered the Sunday Times best seller list, this fascinating book will cause the reader to understand Lewis in a whole new way. It has some important things to say about how we understand the universe and Christian faith today. Documentary DVD also available. # 313627




Manic Man


Book Description

Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness is an account of Jason Wegner's experiences living with a severe mental illness: bipolar I disorder. The story begins with an outline of Jason's normal life and then describes the hypomanic stage of his illness. The mania starts with his experience of taking the dangerous psychedelic drug LSD and takes off a few weeks later in Tanzania, Africa. He is in a full-blown manic episode while in Africa, and his behaviours and thoughts captured demonstrate this. Weeks of mania continued after he was home from Africa until he was tricked into going in an ambulance and taken to the hospital's emergency wing. He would be hospitalized in the acute psychiatry ward for 57 days, and seven months of depression follows his hospitalization. To lift himself out of his severe depression, his psychologist, Dr. Kerry Bernes, develops "The Octagon of Life," which is the eight areas of life that he gets Jason to focus on. Following the plan, Jason gets out of depression and experiences post-traumatic growth and becomes a more successful person than he was before his diagnosis.