Articoli correlati a Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds
Let Me Not Be Mad is an immersive, virtuosic and provocative investigation of madness, love and self-destruction that defies categorisation.
'Exhilarating ... dazzling ... a miraculous feat' Guardian
'I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness' Stephen Fry
'Stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest' Olivia Laing
A consulting room with two people in it. One of them is talking, the other is listening. Both of them need help.
Throughout his life, A K Benjamin has found himself drawn to extreme behaviour – as a screenwriter, a contemplative monk, a counsellor for addicts, a support-worker for gang-members and ultimately as a clinical neuropsychologist.
His book begins as a series of superbly realised clinical encounters with anonymised patients, some recently traumatised, some on the brink of mental collapse, others already in freefall. But with each encounter, it becomes increasingly and disturbingly apparent that what we are reading is not really about the patients at all: it is about the author’s own fevered descent into mental illness and mania as he confronts his traumatic past.
Layered with twists and revelations, Let Me Not Be Mad challenges the boundary between fact and fiction to provide a thrilling drama of self-diagnosis: a hall of mirrors blazing with energy, intensity, humour and emotion. And though shockingly personal, it also reveals something deep and dark in western culture that is driving millions of us to distraction and collapse.
'Exhilarating ... dazzling ... a miraculous feat' Guardian
'I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness' Stephen Fry
'Stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest' Olivia Laing
A consulting room with two people in it. One of them is talking, the other is listening. Both of them need help.
Throughout his life, A K Benjamin has found himself drawn to extreme behaviour – as a screenwriter, a contemplative monk, a counsellor for addicts, a support-worker for gang-members and ultimately as a clinical neuropsychologist.
His book begins as a series of superbly realised clinical encounters with anonymised patients, some recently traumatised, some on the brink of mental collapse, others already in freefall. But with each encounter, it becomes increasingly and disturbingly apparent that what we are reading is not really about the patients at all: it is about the author’s own fevered descent into mental illness and mania as he confronts his traumatic past.
Layered with twists and revelations, Let Me Not Be Mad challenges the boundary between fact and fiction to provide a thrilling drama of self-diagnosis: a hall of mirrors blazing with energy, intensity, humour and emotion. And though shockingly personal, it also reveals something deep and dark in western culture that is driving millions of us to distraction and collapse.
Le informazioni nella sezione "Riassunto" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
Recensione:
"Exhilarating ... dazzling ... a miraculous feat" (Guardian)
"A mental-health memoir like no other ... a genre-defying wake-up call of a book ... compelling ... clever humane ... holding back a sly twist for the end" (Observer)
"Let Me Not be Mad is stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest; one of the best portraits of madness and clinical practice I’ve read. I read it in two sittings. Extraordinary" (Olivia Laing)
"A perfectly extraordinary – not to mention extraordinarily perfect – tense Hitchcockian psychodrama. I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness. An important, profound and fascinating book" (Stephen Fry)
"Imagine a gonzo Oliver Sacks communing with Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose, R.D. Laing and the spirit of Kafka’s 'The Country Doctor', and you still won’t quite have the flavour of this wild and strikingly original book" (William Fiennes)
"Brilliant and alarming, written with cunning and self-lacerating honesty. The doctor is sick, but his intelligence, his scope of reference, his damaged sagacity could save us all" (Iain Sinclair)
"Blackly comic, warmly compassionate, a unique take on the human mind offering uncomfortable universal truths" (Stewart Lee)
"A treasure of a book. Intricately woven and deeply intimate, it reveals things that astonish, surprise and improve us" (James Rhodes, author of Instrumental)
"A truly astonishing journey into and out of the mind. Not content to pin you down with the intense intimacy of his storytelling Benjamin dramatises some of the most profound and intractable issues in neuroscience and psychiatry. I’ve never read anything like it" (Professor Mark Lythgoe, UCL)
"Like a meeting of Oliver Sacks and Hunter S Thompson ... this is not a simple narrative of striking cases written by a far-seeing practitioner. It’s a turbo-charged race" (Lisa Appignanesi New Statesman)
L'autore:
"A mental-health memoir like no other ... a genre-defying wake-up call of a book ... compelling ... clever humane ... holding back a sly twist for the end" (Observer)
"Let Me Not be Mad is stunning: clever, troubling, restless, honest, dishonest; one of the best portraits of madness and clinical practice I’ve read. I read it in two sittings. Extraordinary" (Olivia Laing)
"A perfectly extraordinary – not to mention extraordinarily perfect – tense Hitchcockian psychodrama. I have rarely read a more haunting and enthralling account of a descent into madness. An important, profound and fascinating book" (Stephen Fry)
"Imagine a gonzo Oliver Sacks communing with Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose, R.D. Laing and the spirit of Kafka’s 'The Country Doctor', and you still won’t quite have the flavour of this wild and strikingly original book" (William Fiennes)
"Brilliant and alarming, written with cunning and self-lacerating honesty. The doctor is sick, but his intelligence, his scope of reference, his damaged sagacity could save us all" (Iain Sinclair)
"Blackly comic, warmly compassionate, a unique take on the human mind offering uncomfortable universal truths" (Stewart Lee)
"A treasure of a book. Intricately woven and deeply intimate, it reveals things that astonish, surprise and improve us" (James Rhodes, author of Instrumental)
"A truly astonishing journey into and out of the mind. Not content to pin you down with the intense intimacy of his storytelling Benjamin dramatises some of the most profound and intractable issues in neuroscience and psychiatry. I’ve never read anything like it" (Professor Mark Lythgoe, UCL)
"Like a meeting of Oliver Sacks and Hunter S Thompson ... this is not a simple narrative of striking cases written by a far-seeing practitioner. It’s a turbo-charged race" (Lisa Appignanesi New Statesman)
A K Benjamin is a Clinical Neuropsychologist, specialising in diagnostics and acute rehab. Previously he was a screenwriter, spent two years as a contemplative monk and has worked at a number of NGOs, with homeless addicts, with gangs and with children with acquired and congenital neurological conditions. He no longer lives in the UK. A K Benjamin is not his real name.
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- EditoreBodley Head
- Data di pubblicazione2019
- ISBN 10 1847925421
- ISBN 13 9781847925428
- RilegaturaCopertina rigida
- Numero di pagine224
- Valutazione libreria
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Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: Brand New. 224 pages. 8.74x5.67x0.94 inches. In Stock. Codice articolo zk1847925421
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