Depression Books

This book is a much needed INFO booster for people suffering with depression, as well as for individuals interested in herbal medicine. Plus it's an interesting read! Ambitiously researched and creatively presented, Dr. Rosenthal has a talent for drawing from sources such as classic literature, music, poetry, medical research, and philosophy, to pen interesting highlights throughout the book. In this remarkably comprehensive book, the history, mythology, past and current medical research, case studies, experience of physicians, and even the politics of St. John's Wort are smoothly chronicled. The reader is also given crucial information on the self-monitoring of mood, the diagnosis of depression, and specifics on how to use St. Johns Wort and when to consult with a physician. The appendix includes helpful logs that the reader can use to monitor their daily mood and sleep. A special bonus is the chapter on how to develop an anti-depressant lifestyle by making simple behavioral and environmental changes. St. John's Wort: The Herbal Way to Feeling Good, is an important, timely, and superbly written book. Thanks Dr. Rosenthal, we needed that!

I strongly recomend this book for anyone who suffers from depression or thinks they may be experienceing any form of deppression even if you are not considering St.John' wort as treatment. The book contains a wealth of information about symptoms and degrees or depression, things the doctors and terapists don't tell you.

Ok, so I'll admit..I have not read this book. That said, I have been taking St. Johns Wort now for about three months and it's so AWESOME! I am a huge advocate of herbal remedies and have been for years. However, for some weird reason I never tried SJW for my severe depression and wretched PMS symptoms. Did I say they were severe and wretched?! JUST AWFUL barely scratches the surface! I've had them for years and years and it was really taking a huge toll on my parenting and my marriage. I mean this truly. It was just so awful. I refused to go on prozac or one of those prescription anti depressants because of their weird side effects they seem to have had on EVERYONE i've known that has gone on them ( like really bad mood swings till they take their "drugs"!) and decided to tried SJW. I went to my local co-op and bought loose SJW and some blank capsules. All totalled about $3.00! The herbs I bought have been enough to last probably 5 months ( I bought about 1 1/2 ounces ) I fill my own capsules and do not pay those terribly high prices at the stores for already prefilled capsules.
I take on average about 3 - 4 per day. And I've been amazingly calm and have absolutely no spiked mood swings or depression. It's been so cool!!!
I suffered with PMS and depression I'd guess about 20 years or more, so this has been wonderful.
The other cool thing I've noticed is if I forget and skip for a few days, I'm still fine, unlike the incidences I've seen friends on who have missed or skipped their one prozac dose! Much beyond that I do need to take them again however. No biggie, I take another dose and I'm good to go.

For anyone whos considering going on a prescription anti depressant, I say go for the SJW first & try it for two weeks. I think, nay guarantee, you'll be so amazed with the results.
It's truly been a life saver for me.
peace to you,
A very happy!!!!!
Green mountain gal!

I found "Stop Paddling/Start Sailing" a thoroughly enjoyable read. Roger conveys very useful information on the treatment of mental illness without ever slipping into woe or grief over the challenges he has faced. I was left with an optimistic and refreshing new view of life with Manic Depression.

JD Stottlemire, author,
"You Me and Apollo: Hope Beyond Bipolar Disorder"

I have read Stop Paddling three times and have to say it is a truly amazing book. I was afraid it would be depressing considering it is the story of a lifelong manic depressive but there was no dwelling on the bad times. Although my own journey through life has been smoother than that for the author I can easily relate to the boating analogy of the main story. But the cleverest thing I found was how he explains about "memes", which previously I had not understood at all. His ideas of there being something other than paddling and other than drifting through life are inspiring. I highly recommend this easy to read book.

I picked up this book and wondered just 'what could I possible get from this' yet another book on how I see the world. WOW, how wrong can you be!! Not only written in a beautifuly engaging and yet refreshingly simple manner, but it's the first time that I honestly think anyone has managed to make me want to write a review. I read the chapter about memes 'Ideas Like rain' and was completely taken aback. The book was able to help me understand better about an episode of MD but without excess details. I was intrigued by the Mood Scale. Well this book is a quick read and I recommend it very strongly to you. I have read it several times. One message to the author, more please.... in the same refreshing style!!!

this book (and the others in the series that i've bought so far) was fascinating. aside from the recipes, some of which are coming in handy in this time of recession (i'm not ready to try others yet... wisconsin gravy.. yuk!), the stories gave me so much insight into the odd behaviors of my parents and grandmothers that i never understood, like the bowl of boiled potatoes in the refrigerator, or my grandmother asking what i wanted a nickel for because "a nickel is a lot of money" (i thought she was nuts), or my mother's obsessive giftwrap and ribbon hoarding. i wish they were still alive so i could ask them the questions i have now. what strong, courageous people the depression/ ww2 generations were!

For anyone interested in what it was like to be a housewife in the great depression this book gives good insight. Also, with food prices rising almost on a daily basis, it gives ways we can all use to stretch our food dollar.

The stories are a bit uneven, but that's because they are all written by different people. It's hard to put this recipe book down while reading the stories!

Recommended for people with old-fashioned values.

This is a very enjoyable trip through a difficult time in our history...many memories and very good recipes. I have the other books in the series and refer to them a lot.

This book has older recipes that dont use a lot of artifical or convience foods. Also included are short 1-2 paragraph blurbs or stories of life in the depression years. I found it wonderful reading.

WOW ! Wish I had read this when my parents (born in the 1920s) were alive! What a great lesson in understanding our Senior Citizens. This book is an excellent combination of healthy and clearly written recipes from the 1930s PLUS a lesson in history of what the Great Depression was like and how it affected people during their entire lifetime. Many personal accounts of life from Depression era is in this book. It was easy to keep interested in a subject usually glossed over or boring in lack of personal details in our American history books. Cookbook collectors should have this one ! Anyone having parents who lived through the Depression and WWII should also read this book. The recipes are good ones that many of us will still recognize today as passed down through families in "Mom's best home cooking." Suddenly the light will dawn on understanding older loved ones. I plan on ordering more copies of this cookbook to give as gifts.

I was given this book by a friend from The Compassionate Friends support group about 3 months after my 17 month old son died unexpectedly. My surviving daughter had just turned 13 years old. The book was very easy to read and understand and gave great suggestions on trying to help a grieving teen regardless of the circumstance. Many grieving teens also have passages in the book that are helpful for me as a mother to try to understand my daughter's struggles. The main thing is knowing that we as parents can't know our teens pain if we haven't experienced the loss of a sibling when we were teens. We have to validate and acknowlegde their pain and suffering. That is very important!

After reading Teen Grief Relief I was glad the topic of suicide was brought up. Through this book, teens will realize that sometimes feelings of despair can lead to thoughts of suicide. These thoughts must be talked about to a trusted adult. The signs of depression are listed to help understand when professional help is needed. I recommend this book for parents and teens that are dealing with a loss of a loved one.

Carol Loehr, My Uncle Keith Died

This book helped my teen and my family get through a tough period of our lives. I would highly recommend this easy to read book to other parents and teens that have suffered the loss of a loved one.

This book gives great insight into the lives of todays teenager and breaking through to them. thank you for writing this.

This book is a must for any parent or grandparent who has a pre teen or teenager. The book is well written and the author has real life situations of teenagers he has helped. Buy the book it is well worth its price.

Mike Linderman does an excellent job of identifying the issues that parents and teens face, and then he actually gives step by step solutions. Every friend of mine who has a teen is recieving this book for Christmas this year... I don't ever suggest 'How to' books to anyone, but this one is different; it is a must read if you are raising children.

I picked up the novel at a garage sale a few years ago and read it only this summer on a whim. From the opening paragraph I was hooked. Set in the summer of 1939, the book portrays a privileged Midwestern family in the minutia of daily living. The storyteller, eight-year-old Tommy MacAllister, is surrounded by such an array of well-drawn characters, readers will want to jot notes as they meet each one. The book is strong for its depiction of everyday events and the subtle interactions within the boy's mind as he contemplates the grownups who comprise his world.

Reading reviews of Seamus Deane's new novel about growing up in Derry reminds me of how I haven't yet gotten over the disappearance of this brilliant book from the publisher's active list. Tommy McAllister, the main character, reads his upper midwestern world and people in it. He uses both heart and mind to probe each word he hears and gesture he sees to map out his world of loving, dangerous, sensible, and eccentric people, most of whom try to keep him safely in the dark

I bought this book a long time ago but it's still on my bookshelf (I don't save many books when I'm done with them) and I am pushing it for my book group (if we can find enough copies). I've read it many times and it never fails to grip me. The story is pretty simple -- a boy growing up in a small midwestern city right before WWII -- but what's great about this gentle book are a)the characters -- each one a believable, fully-developed, eccentric (but not cutely so) HUMAN, even the minor characters, and b) the wonderful sense of time & place. It's not a lovely place -- it's rife with class, race and other perennial American problems -- but it's full of life, humor, love, hate -- and it has fantastic women characters. Another plus for the book is that it takes place in (I think) someplace like Duluth MN, not the usual East, South or West coast location. The novel also features Native Americans in contemporary roles (circa 1936) -- how often do we get to read about regular old people who happen to be Indians?

Ben K. Green was equally adept at roping a steer, riding a bronc and spinning a yarn. You will feel that you are sitting around his campfire eatin' a mess of good chuck and slapping your sides laughing at one of his longest adventures ever; rounding up a renegade herd of mustangs in Old Mexico, doing the least necessary to make them seem rideable and trail driving them a thousand miles almost single-handedly, hoping to be able to sell them at a time when money was very tight. Along the way, you will meet some assorted colorful characters and witness Ben at his horse-trading best. This is a gem of a story told with lots of humor and a west Texas drawl.

This is one story of a trip Ben Green takes to Old Mexico to find, catch, and drive back home wild mustangs. This is all done by horseback in the days of real cowboying. He tells the reader how he catches them, trains them to drive, and the interesting people he meets on the trail. If you love horses you will love this well written adventure.

Ben K. Green was a cowboy who could spin a yarn as well as ride a horse or rope a steer. In this Wild West Adventure, young Ben sets off at the end of the Great Depression to Mexico to try to find an elusive band of mustangs. Along the way he meets some colorful characters, gathers quite a herd of horses and mules, and has to figure out how to get them back home and sell them to make the one-year journey worthwhile. A wonderful adventure, chock-full of humor, told with a west Texas drawl. You will feel that you are sitting around the campfire late at night after another day on the trail listening to Ben tell his tales. Get ready to be entertained! This book is Ben K. Green at his best.

"Three New Deals" is an interesting book about the similarities and differences between FDR's New Deal, Mussolini's fascism, and Hitler's fascism. Certainly all three were different from one another. But it's quite an eye-opener to read about the mutual admiration across the three in the 1930s, particularly between some of FDR's advisors and the Mussolini camp. This is also a relatively short book; a quick read that doesn't belabor the point or wear out its welcome. Those with an interest in politics or WWII history will be interested in at least checking this out from the library.

This is a truly brilliant book. It highlights the fact that political and economic crises often produce similar results, specifically a centralization of state power. Some people may not like this book because it suggests similarities between Roosevelt's New Deal and Fascism. However, the point here is not to suggest Roosevelt was racist or antisemitic (a totally idiotic notion) but to focus on the much larger issue of the use of state power in a crisis. The book has important lessons for the future. The current world order is doing a very poor job is dealing with deadly threats like the global environmental crisis. In a new series of world crises there is likely to be a huge centralization of power. Albert Speer once observed that when fascism comes back, it will come back as anti-fascism. The larger issue here is totalitarianism and its potential role in the world future.

Mr. Schivelbusch, in this remarkably well researched and startling book draws parallels between the programs and leadership styles of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Franklin Roosevelt. He shows how many similarities there were to be found between each of these very different men. His purpose is not to demonize FDR, excuse the Nazis and Fascists or even to mitigate the failure of the average German and Italian to stand up their leaders. It is, rather, to provide a warning to the future that populism can shift from the benign to the monstrous. It is must reading for the general reader.

Having been a fan of Mr Schivelbusch's varied work for many years, I recently had the opportunity to dine with him at the home of friends of mine. I was interested to learn that he was a man of the Left, whose views were very different from mine. It is a tribute to his ability as a scholar that I never would have guessed his affiliations. He follows the truth where he finds it and never lets his own biases seep into his work.

He is a careful and diligent researcher. By way of example, T. Harry Williams' Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Huey Long merely casts doubt on those who attribute to Long the most famous of his quotes to the effect that "when Fascism comes to America, it will come in the guise of anti-Fascism." Williams does not make any serious attempt to track down the origin of the attribution, something you would expect from the author of a nearly 1000 page biography. In this short work, in a learned and careful footnote, Schivelbusch offers a variety of possible sources for this quote. THAT is careful research!

I highly recommend Three New Deals.

Hartnett has done a wonderful job again in giving us this haunting story of another dysfunctional family. You can almost hear Tin as he moves about underground, expanding that world as he leaves this one.

'Thursday's Child' is a good example of a book that is not necessarily historical fact, but brings a beautiful portrayal of a family unit through hard times. Although it can get depressing at times, the darkness is expected (the family is not living in the most happiest conditions) and the story is full of realistic plot that lets the reader really get to know the characters. The only character that remains shrouded in mystery (although the main character, Harper, gives us some insight to his true intents throughout the book of his digging) is Tin, who still remains one of the most meaningful aspects of the book.

An easy, enjoyable read.

James Augustin Barnabas Flute, otherwise known as "Tin," was born on a Thursday. Which, according to his older sister Harper who narrates this dark coming-of-age novel, fated him to his wanderings. An older Harper looks back on her not quite seven-year-old self and remembers the day when her youngest brother Caffy was born - the day when Tin stopped being the impoverished family's baby, which is also the day when Tin learned how to dig.

The family's story from then on diverges from Tin's, as the small boy slowly transforms into a wild creature whose home is a self-created network of tunnels beneath their shanty. Most of the time Tin is invisible to the others, a person lost - less and less human, as time passes - yet still loved. Still one of their own.

This literary novel's premise borders on speculative fiction, with wonderfully creepy effect. Tin's life intersects with those of his family at crisis points throughout the story, as their already difficult existence becomes ever more so. What will this wild and often frightening child bring his loved ones in the end? Will he be their doom - their salvation - or both?

Despite its darkness, which at times feels extreme, "Thursday's Child" is a book beautifully written and a story expertly told. I recommend it highly, although not to young readers prone to nightmares!

- Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"