Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety
Daniel Smith
(Author)
Description
A wildly acclaimed New York Times bestseller, this uplifting, smart, and funny memoir provides hope and understanding to the 40 million Americans who suffer from anxiety disorders. Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind is the stunning articulation of what it is like to live with anxiety. As he travels through anxiety's demonic layers, Smith defangs the disorder with great humor and evocatively expresses its self-destructive absurdities and painful internal coherence. Aaron Beck, the most influential doctor in modern psychotherapy, says that "Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron's Darkness Visible did for depression." Neurologist and bestselling writer Oliver Sacks says, "I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity. . . . I broke out into explosive laughter again and again." Here, finally, comes relief and recognition to all those who want someone to put what they feel, or what their loved ones feel, into words.Product Details
Price
$16.00
$14.88
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Publish Date
June 11, 2013
Pages
212
Dimensions
5.54 X 0.57 X 8.4 inches | 0.43 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781439177310
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Daniel L. Smith is a freelance writer and historical researcher. He has lived all over the United States and has traveled North America extensively. He is a current graduate student of History at Southern New Hampshire University. He writes freelance for a historical online publication called History Is Now Magazine based in the UK. Other education includes a B.A. in History and an A.S. in Criminal Justice. Finally, Mr. Smith is an Honorably Discharged U.S. Coast Guard Veteran. "While seemingly disguised as tolerance, any vocal support for the American pioneer is looked down upon in the traditionally tribal areas on the American west coast, but more specifically Northern California. As a result, today, this thinking has seemingly created a common synthetic thought process of displaced hate towards the American settlers heritage and their historical positioning. 1845-1870 An Untold Story of Northern California was written to expose these false observations, and challenge the status quo." - D. L. Smith
Reviews
"I don't know Daniel Smith, but I do want to give him a hug. His book is so bracingly honest, so hilarious, so sharp, it's clear there's one thing he doesn't have to be anxious about: Whether or not he's a great writer."--A.J. Jacobs "author of Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically "
"Daniel Smith has a written a wise, funny book, a great mix of startling memoir and fascinating medical and literary history, all of it delivered with humor and a true generosity of spirit. I only got anxious in the last part, when I worried the book would end."--Sam Lipsyte "author of Home Land and The Ask "
"I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity. Daniel Smith's anxiety is matched by a wonderful sense of the comic, and it is this which makes Monkey Mind not only a dark, pain-filled book but a hilariously funny one, too. I broke out into explosive laughter again and again."--Oliver Sacks "bestselling author of The Mind's Eye and Musicophilia "
"Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron's Darkness Visible did for depression."--Aaron T. Beck, father of cognitive therapy
"You don't need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith's pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time--chronic anxiety--and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed."--Chad Harbach "author of The Art of Fielding "
"Monkey Mind is fleet, funny, and productively exhausting."--Ben Greenman "The New York Times Book Review "
"Here's one less thing for Daniel Smith to worry about: He sure can write. In Monkey Mind, a memoir of his lifelong struggles with anxiety, he defangs the experience with a winning combination of humor and understanding."--Heller McAlpin "NPR.org "
"Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psycho-pathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage a trois--and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks' sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit."--Eric Weiner "author of The Geography of Bliss "
"In this unforgettable, surprisingly hilarious memoir, journalist and professor Smith chronicles his head-clanging, flop-sweating battles with acute anxiety. . . . He's clear-eyed and funny about his condition's painful absurdities."--People (four stars)
"This book will change the way you think about anxiety.... Daniel Smith's writing dazzled me..... Painful experiences are described with humor, and complex ideas are made accessible.... Monkey Mind is a rare gem."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Superb writing [and] marvelous humor . . . If you're chronically anxious and want to better explain to a loved one what you're going through, hand them Monkey Mind."--Psychology Today
"You'll laugh out loud many times during Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind. . . . In the time-honored tradition of leavening pathos with humor, Smith has managed to create a memoir that doesn't entirely let him off the hook for bad behavior . . . but promotes understanding of the similarly afflicted."--O Magazine
"The book is one man's story, but at its core it's about all of us."--Booklist
"[Smith] adroitly dissects his relentless mental and physical symptoms with intelligence and humor. . . . An intelligent, intimate and touching journey through one man's angst-ridden life."--The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"A true treasure-trove of insight laced with humor and polished prose."--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Monkey Mind is a perfect 10.... Hilarious, well-informed and intelligent, Smith conveys the seriousness of his situation without becoming pathetic or unrelatable, and what's more, he offers useful information for both sufferers and non-sufferers.... He gives us a reason to stay with him on every page."--Newsday
"For fellow anxiety-sufferers, it's like finding an Anne of Green Gables-style kindred spirit."--New York magazine's Vulture.com
"[Monkey Mind] will be recognized in the years to come as the preeminent first-person narrative of the anxiously lived life."--Psychiatric Times
"Daniel Smith has a written a wise, funny book, a great mix of startling memoir and fascinating medical and literary history, all of it delivered with humor and a true generosity of spirit. I only got anxious in the last part, when I worried the book would end."--Sam Lipsyte "author of Home Land and The Ask "
"I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity. Daniel Smith's anxiety is matched by a wonderful sense of the comic, and it is this which makes Monkey Mind not only a dark, pain-filled book but a hilariously funny one, too. I broke out into explosive laughter again and again."--Oliver Sacks "bestselling author of The Mind's Eye and Musicophilia "
"Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron's Darkness Visible did for depression."--Aaron T. Beck, father of cognitive therapy
"You don't need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith's pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time--chronic anxiety--and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed."--Chad Harbach "author of The Art of Fielding "
"Monkey Mind is fleet, funny, and productively exhausting."--Ben Greenman "The New York Times Book Review "
"Here's one less thing for Daniel Smith to worry about: He sure can write. In Monkey Mind, a memoir of his lifelong struggles with anxiety, he defangs the experience with a winning combination of humor and understanding."--Heller McAlpin "NPR.org "
"Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psycho-pathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage a trois--and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks' sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit."--Eric Weiner "author of The Geography of Bliss "
"In this unforgettable, surprisingly hilarious memoir, journalist and professor Smith chronicles his head-clanging, flop-sweating battles with acute anxiety. . . . He's clear-eyed and funny about his condition's painful absurdities."--People (four stars)
"This book will change the way you think about anxiety.... Daniel Smith's writing dazzled me..... Painful experiences are described with humor, and complex ideas are made accessible.... Monkey Mind is a rare gem."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Superb writing [and] marvelous humor . . . If you're chronically anxious and want to better explain to a loved one what you're going through, hand them Monkey Mind."--Psychology Today
"You'll laugh out loud many times during Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind. . . . In the time-honored tradition of leavening pathos with humor, Smith has managed to create a memoir that doesn't entirely let him off the hook for bad behavior . . . but promotes understanding of the similarly afflicted."--O Magazine
"The book is one man's story, but at its core it's about all of us."--Booklist
"[Smith] adroitly dissects his relentless mental and physical symptoms with intelligence and humor. . . . An intelligent, intimate and touching journey through one man's angst-ridden life."--The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"A true treasure-trove of insight laced with humor and polished prose."--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Monkey Mind is a perfect 10.... Hilarious, well-informed and intelligent, Smith conveys the seriousness of his situation without becoming pathetic or unrelatable, and what's more, he offers useful information for both sufferers and non-sufferers.... He gives us a reason to stay with him on every page."--Newsday
"For fellow anxiety-sufferers, it's like finding an Anne of Green Gables-style kindred spirit."--New York magazine's Vulture.com
"[Monkey Mind] will be recognized in the years to come as the preeminent first-person narrative of the anxiously lived life."--Psychiatric Times
