Depression Books

Letters from Rapunzel is FRESH and far from a fairytale. THIS Rapunzel is smart, witty, creative and struggling to come to terms with her father's illness - Clinical Depression (a.k.a. - the Evil Spell.) THIS Rapunzel is suffering teen angst and looking for answers. She begins writing to P.O. Box #5667 after she discovers the ripped up remains of a letter her father has addressed to this mysterious pen pal. In her quest for answers and a "happy ending" she discovers so much more - the heroine of her life - herself.

"It's very hard, rescuing yourself."

Life is not a fairy tale, but it can be an amazing journey. Letters from Rapunzel by Sara Lewis Holmes confirms this.

In this extraordinary epistolary juvenile novel, a young girl drafts letter after letter to P.O. Box #5667. She addresses her concerns there after seeing the post office box on an unfinished letter from her father. Now that he has been hospitalized for clinical depression (or, as she calls it, the "Evil Spell"), she feels as if this unknown recipient is her only touchstone to her displaced parent. Feeling as though she's trapped in a tower, she signs the letters "Rapunzel" and sends them out as signs of life, slivers of hope, perhaps even small calls for help.

Though the letters seem to be one-sided, the story is full and its protagonist three-dimensional. She acts her age and responds to her situation with equal parts optimism, realism, and cynicism. While waiting for her hardworking mother to pick her up from the dreaded afterschool Homework Club and waiting for her father to come home from the hospital, she channels her anxiety and emotions into her writing. Her short stories and letters reveal more about her own identity, even as she yearns to learn that of her would-be pen pal. Just as the heroine feels compelled to keep writing to the mysterious #5667, kids will feel compelled to keep reading her letters to the very end.

This book sounds like a fantasy title, and shows a picture of a girl with long blond hair dropping letters from a tower. However, it is actually about a very real girl who calls herself Rapunzel because she feels trapped in after-school Homework Club (because she's not quite old enough to stay home alone). Rapunzel's beloved father is in the hospital for depression, which she likens to an Evil Spell. Finding a scrap of a letter that her father has written to someone at a post office box, Rapunzel starts writing to this apparent friend of her father's, hoping that the person can help. The entire story is told in the form of Rapunzel's letters and stories.

Rapunzel is a complex and engaging character. She struggles with a nemesis named Andrew, resists pressure to join the Gifted and Talented program, and fights to save a historic bridge that's important to her father. Her intelligence and creativity shine through her letters, stories, and poems, as do her insecurities, need for stimulation, and sense of humor. Here is an example that shows Rapunzel's voice:

"My Mom's very concerned that I don't have any friends my age. I admit that I usually hang out with my dad or our neighbor, Mrs. Booth, who's sixty-seven. But can I help it if we haven't lived here that long -- and that everybody at my new school thinks I'm a geek because I can use the word "fortuitous" in a sentence?" (Page 15)

And here's one that shows her fears:

"The scariest thing I found out is that the Evil Spell runs in families. Like if somebody close to you has it, then your chances of being zapped by it are more than the average Joe-on-the-Street. That means me.

And it turns out that being smart doesn't help you either. Everyone thinks that smart people are happy, but it's not true. What's so happy about being able to see what's wrong all the time, and not having the power to fix it? What's so happy about feeling weird and different every day of your life? What's so happy about having gorgeous, superlative, wonderful hair (or a BRAIN) when you're kept in a tower?" (Page 61)

And her boredom with study hall (Homework Club):

"Okay. I'm so bored that I spent ten minutes watching the clock and saying "One Mississippi" each time the second hand clicked a space to see if time was mysteriously warped in this room like it is in Rapunzel's tower. But it's not. My hair and I are getting older at the exact same sluglike pace." (Page 104)

All in all, Rapunzel is a delight. I think that kids who are different in any way, especially kids who are different because they are easily distracted or bored in school, will relate to her. She feels real.

Letters from Rapunzel also tackles, in a highly accessible manner, the subject of clinical depression. Rapunzel's father is unable to be there to support his wife and child, leaving Rapunzel alone, worrying about her father as well as her own future. When he's under the Evil Spell, he can't function at all. Sara Lewis Holmes clearly has a real-world understanding of depression and it's impact on others (read more on her blog). For kids who have relatives struggling with the Evil Spell of depression, this book could be invaluable.

All in all, Letters from Rapunzel is a wonderful read for fourth through eighth graders, with an unusual storytelling method, and a unique and engaging voice. Although difficult subjects are covered, Rapunzel's breezy tone keeps the book feeling safe for the reader. Recommended for upper elementary and middle school kids, girls and boys. (Though I think that the title and cover might make it a stretch to get boys to read it). Letters from Rapunzel won the Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on November 1, 2007.

A girl calling herself "Rapunzel" writes letters to a post office box after she finds a scrap of a letter written from her father to the box number. It says that the unknown recipient is the key to his succeeding as a poet and as a human. Now Rapunzel's dad has been hospitalized for severe depression, and Rapunzel begins pouring her heart out in the letters, although she never receives a reply.

Rapunzel feels as trapped as her namesake --- only instead of being in a castle she is stuck in the dreary Homework Club in her school cafeteria. Her busy mother insists that Rapunzel attend this after-school program.

Rapunzel is new at her school and doesn't have friends her age. According to her IQ test results (which she hides from her mother), she's a genius. But she doesn't care enough about school to actually study and has no desire to enter the gifted and talented program her teachers believe is right for her. Meanwhile, she pleads for help from P.O. Box #5667.

A curious Rapunzel goes to the post office to check out the box and finds it crammed full of mail. No wonder she's not getting any responses! She questions the clerk, who refuses to tell her who rents it.

Rapunzel comes up with her own plan to break her father's Evil Spell. She will buy the bridge that is the subject of his book of poetry, since the bridge is for sale. Owning it surely would snap her dad out of his depression. If only she had, uh, three-quarters of a million dollars.

Rapunzel's maneuverings fall through, and she is forced to attend the gifted program. The first day does not go well, to say the least. When a boy finds a poem she wrote about her father and mocks it, she decks him with an English textbook and finds herself in an all-day detention. But things go way downhill from there when poor Rapunzel learns something shocking about the bridge for sale.

LETTERS FROM RAPUNZEL won the Ursula Nordstrom First Fiction Contest, and it's easy to see why. Gutsy Rapunzel has a delightfully forthright voice. Several mysteries thread through the plot, which eventually are solved in a satisfying manner. The book is humorous but also heartbreaking, filled with yearning and poignancy. Rapunzel's fresh story is one that will linger in the minds of readers for a very long time.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

This is Sara Lewis Holmes' debut novel, winner of the first annual Ursula Nordstrom Fiction Contest. An epistolary novel (that quickly becomes tantamount to reading a young girl's diary), it centers around twelve-year-old Cadence who calls herself Rapunzel. Cadence is extremely close to her father, a poet, who is suddenly hospital-bound with clinical depression. Soon after his hospitalization, Cadence finds an intimate and cryptic (but incomplete) letter he had written to someone nameless, addressed to a post office box. In the hopes that the recipient of the letters will help her save her father, she composes letters and sends them to this particular post office box, #5667. However, she finds herself writing so much more -- re-writings of fairy tales with her own plucky spin (one of her protagonist princesses decides not to marry the prince after all and not to sleep on any more piles of mattresses: She will no longer "take teeny-tiny steps. Instead, I opened my own detective agency, and lived happily ever after, asking lots and lots of questions. THE END"); creative responses to homework assignments and math problems; and letters to the editor when she hears about the imminent destruction of one of the last authentic swing bridges in her area, a place holding special significance for her father and a place, she learns the hard way, that was the backdrop for a devastating turning point in her father's illness. All the while, no one, including her mother, is talking to her honestly about his depression. She imagines herself a modern fairy tale heroine, mostly "just a victim in a tower," she writes to the nameless letter recipient: Her particular prison tower being the afterschool Homework Club, and the evil spell that has afflicted her father, his depression.

The book has a steady, vigorous pace; Holmes' Cadence is fully-realized (she's entrancing when she really gets going) and will especially draw young pre-teen girls who feel a bit left of center or a bit out of place, especially if its due to their brain power in and out of the classroom ("Everyone thinks that smart people are happy, but it's not true. What's so happy about being able to see what's wrong all the time, and not having the power to fix it? What's so happy about feeling weird and different every day of your life?" she writes in one letter); as The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books put it well, the novel possesses a "{d}elicately layered grace and springiness"; and there's a lot of poignancy in the novel, yet Holmes knows how to put on the brakes and keep it from getting too schmaltzy or overdone. Her relationship with her father is especially moving; here she is writing to the nameless post office box recipient (though it quickly becomes clear, especially after getting no letters in response, that she's writing for her own self-preservation):

"Did you know he writes me a letter, with a poem in it, every year, for my birthday? Half the time I don't understand the poem - not completely anyway - but it doesn't matter. Understanding isn't the point. It's how those poems make me feel. I read them to myself at night, sitting cross-legged on the bed, catching the words on the paper like they were fantastical beasts in the round, pale moonbeam of his silver flashlight. In the daylight, the words seem to run away when I try to read them, but at night, safely circled by my mighty beam, they slow down and turn toward me, and I whisper them to myself, memorizing their tracks on the page.

That's what I love about my dad - he doesn't give me cute or fancy verses for my birthday. He gives me strange and beautiful and mysterious pools of words, way over my head, but right at eye level with my heart. Those poems make me feel I'm truly growing older, that it isn't just a cake-and-icing-induced hallucination."

And there are also several beautifully-rendered moments as Cadence works through her confusion and her sadness over her father's sudden absence, all through her letter-writing. In thinking about her father's love of poetry ("One time he said poetry happened whenever he felt `the weight of reality's shadow.' I didn't get that exactly, but then he said it was like the world tilted, or shifted a little, so that he could see its hidden side"), she comes to understand her own writing abilities, albeit accidentally: "Then something weird happened. I wrote a poem about it. I didn't mean to, but all of a sudden, it was like there was another SOMETHING in the room, like a ghost. You know how you feel like there's breath on your neck? I didn't know how long it would last, so I grabbed a pen and I wrote down everything I could about that moment. What I wrote didn't make sense at first, but then I remembered what my dad told me once about his work - that he tried to make his poems like spells (good ones, not evil) so that when someone heard one, the listener would be haunted by the spirit of the poem, as he was when he wrote it . . ." Ah, loveliness.

Best of all, though, is Holmes' perceptive commentary on modern education (or, at the very least, the tendency of some teachers to adhere a bit too rigidly to pedagogical orthodoxy). Cadence is brilliant and very determined to avoid trying the new gifted program that her mother and some teachers want her to join. Compounding her dislike for school, a handful of her teachers refuse her rather imaginative ("frivolous" in the eyes of some teachers) efforts at answering homework questions. "Why do teachers encourage you to be creative when they don't mean it?" she writes. Indeed, her letters to the editor about the imminent destruction of the bridge are smart and incisive.

And, in the end, thoughtful readers will appreciate Holmes' further commentary on some readers' insistence for happy endings in stories and Cadence's acceptance that "{y}ou must be willing to have your heart broken in order to live. There's no other choice, scramble as we may to look for it, to find a way out of our dilemma. It is hope, crack your heart open and breathe, or close it up and die." That's not to say that something dreadfully tragic happens either; this is not the case at all. It's simply that Cadence -- and her father, for that matter -- comes to realize that she must make herself vulnerable, despite the pain, that the light can come through, even when things seem topsy-turvy and beyond repair.

In the words of Cadence, "It's very hard, rescuing yourself."

I didn't think depression could be explained so well and with so few words and the help of pictures, but the book does it so much better than many 400 page books. I highly recommend it for people who suffer from depression so they can recognize themselves and feel less lonely and for the friends and relatives of sufferers to gain an understanding of what it is like.
A wonderful, helpful and positive book!

This is one of those books that's written on 2 levels, one for older children (maybe 8yo+) with some subtleties for adult readers--i.e. a medicine bottle labeled "black dog begone." It is both informative and funny. The pictures capture what it feels like to live with depression.

The message is simply, it's okay. You are just one of those with black dog - depression. You can overcome !!!

What an incredible way to view depression...I will never look it the same way again...a must read for anyone who has been bitten, or knows someone, bitten by the black dog!!!

Mathew Johnstone's tiny book has captured depression with a lightness of touch that enables him to poke fun at our 'friend' whilst very much acknowledging it's power. Great to share with anyone who'd benefit from understanding the dog (who wouldn't?).

This is a true story of the author's father, whose passion for rocks (even when other people teased him gently about it) eventually led him to become director of a museum and, in her own words, "probably the happiest man I ever knew".

I love this one beyond belief. It's very sweet and nostalgic.

I will say that it's probably better suited for the older end of the 4-8 range. It's a bit wordy, and some of the details about their lives - much of the book takes place during the Depression - are going to go right over the heads of the younger ones.

I was priviledged to meet the author and take a workshop given by her. She was and is a great story-teller! I read this book to my second graders and they loved it. It tells how her father followed his love of rocks and minerals into his dream occupation: curator at a museum. It was a long, slow road, but he always had a rock in his pocket and a story to tell about it. My students repeated the line: "Take a look at this one..." each time it was read. I combined it with Gail Gibbons' book Dragonflies, Diamonds and Dinosaurs, which is about a Natural History Museum. We followed up with a nonfiction book about rocks and minerals. It was a series that held high interest for my students and me.

I like to read this to my 2nd grade class during our rock unit.

This book tells the life story of the narrator's father, a self-educated man who managed to become museum curator due to his passion for rocks. When the narrator's father was a young boy, he collected rocks everywhere he went. When he grew up, he ran a gas station and kept his rocks on shelves for customers to look at. The gas station went under during the Depression. After hunting around, the man eventually stumbled into a job as a night janitor at the Museum of Science. He was quite happy with this job because he got to polish the rocks in the exhibits. Eventually he was even promoted to the position of curator of the museum because of his expertise with the rocks, even though he lacked a college education. The story is quite appealing for older kids. With 1250 words, it may be a bit long for the young ones.

This book is narrated by a rock-collector's son. He starts off telling how his father worked at a gas station. He displayed his large rock collection at the station where he worked. Many people came to talk, look at the rocks, and play chess with the father. Then the Great Depression started and the father had one job a day. He still found time to go to the museum and look at rocks. The museum manager noticed him and she gave him a job as a janitor there. Then he was found switching the rock labels because he knew they were wrong. After this happened he was moved up to museum currator. I like this book because to me, it is about following your dreams.

This is a story you will like, a lot ! It touches in many unexpected ways - Pat Peoples and his world are created with tight crisp writing.

If you really enjoy being moved by a fun, quirky and very real emotional story, then this one is for you, big time. I had to put it down for a while whenever I thought things might be bad for unlikely hero Pat !

This book just makes me want to say "Thank you" to this author, congratulations on success, and I hope it was a wonderous journey that stays with you.
I may end up with a book published some day, and just my beginning steps thrill me with the amazing experience of meeting/inventing/being these characters.
I'll be a returning customer.

John Bidwell

This book was a lot of fun to read. I also could not put it down and finished it in two days. You will especially like it if you grew up in the Northeast US as this is the setting for the story. Buy it and enjoy it!

I cannot do anything else but agree with everyone. This was a great book.
The narrator was a character I really cared about and who gave tremendous
insights into his life as an offbeat but basically good guy. Some of his
lines were truly funny but it was not a funny book. It was a book that made me root for Pat to get his "silver lining". I was riveted to the final few pages.

Philadelphia is not only the home of the quintessentially American Liberty Bell, cheese steak, and Rocky, but now Philadelphia offers us another American original: Pat Peoples, the neurologically-damaged, ex-wife pining, mother-loving, uber Eagles fan protagonist of Matthew Quick's dazzling debut novel The Silver Linings Playbook.

You might think that a book about a guy who has lost so much--his wife, his home, his job, and many years of his life in a mental health facility--would be depressing. Far from it. In fact, this book is uplifting. For what Quick offers us is not just the brutality of life--a father who won't talk to his son, a cheating wife, many violent tempers--but also the beauty of it--finding love in unexpected people. Basically, Quick shows us that no matter how far down you fall, there are people willing to help you pick yourself back up. Quick gives us hope.

Does everything turn out the way Pat wanted it to? No. But it does turn out just as it should: with two broken souls coming together, hoping, and believing in the silver lining.

In short: a gorgeous, poignant, funny and uplifting book. Read it.

This is an amazing book that teaches simple skills that make a big difference! After struggling with OCD and depression for nearly 9 years this has been an amazing tool, and stepping stone! Very easy to read. Don't get discouraged by the repetition. It is repetative because it is important, and it helps you actually learn the material.

The book arrived in a timely manner and was in brand new condition. I was pleased with this experience. The book has been an interesting read.

This is an easy to read self help book for any age!

As a clinical psychologist I wrote "SOS Help For Emotions: Managing Anxiety, Anger, And Depression" to help people to increase their emotional intelligence and to more effectively manage their emotions and behavior. Emotional intelligence matters more than IQ in obtaining success and contentment in life.

The five abilities of emotional intelligence are: 1. knowing our emotions, 2. managing our emotions, 3. recognizing emotions in others, 4. managing relationships with others, and 5. motivating ourselves to achieve our goals. I believe that people can increase their emotional intelligence using the methods of cognitive behavior therapy as presented in "SOS Help For Emotions."

Dr. Albert Ellis, the best known therapist in the United States says regarding SOS, "Beautifully captures the spirit of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (cognitive behavior therapy) in concise, evocative, and humorous language. A gem of an introduction to REBT." The director of professional education at Albert Ellis Institute says, "It's spectacular! SOS is the best self-help book on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy that I have seen." Dr. Donald Beal, a practicing cognitive therapist says, "SOS is a beautiful work! The use of cartoons, figures, and illustrations is quite engaging." SOS is available in Turkish, Chinese, and Korean, as well as English.

I am eager to share insights from cognitive behavior therapy with people (including older teens) who are not seeing therapists but who want to learn on their own, how to improve their emotional intelligence and their ability to manage their emotions and behavior. I used 100 illustrations and boxes in SOS to make reading interesting and easy for busy people. Seeing SOS in print is a dream I have had for over 15 years. Currently I am working on a video-based education program based on SOS Help For Emotions.

Written by Lynn Fred Clark, Ph.D., author and clinical psychologist

This is a fun, easy-to-use book! Humorously challenge your belief system (what you expect of yourself and others, whether reasonable or not) and the results will astound you. A great tool to find contentment in your life and your relationships.
You will keep this book forever to go back to when those old habits try to sneak back up on you! It is amazing to be able to maintain happiness and tranquility even when the world and people around you do not. Best dollar investment and personal investment you'll ever make.

I highly recommend this book. It is a heartwarming true story of the life of a young man in a small town in Idaho. It reminds us of the way life used to be and the sacrifices of previous generations.

Well worth reading.

What an amazing story! From the first word to the last I was lost in this book. I found myself wishing that I lived in such an amazing time in Idaho's history! A must read!

This book is absolutely wonderful. I could not put it down. I hope the author has plans for books two, three, and four. What a great storyteller. The book is special because it tells the story of a time in American culture and life that I wish we could return to - a story of the real American family and friends.

I loved every single word. What has happened to the American Family? Absolutely nothing in this authors generation, absolutley everything in ours now. What to capture the real essence of what it takes to live this life with a true legacy? Buy it and read it, you will not be disapointed. A truly tremendous read!

This book would make a great movie. A wonderful message
for anyone.

Finally, I found a book that might actually help me and some of my dearest loved ones. I adore this book; and would love to meet the author. This book is for every "artist" who struggles w/ the "blues" or depression, yet knows that traditional medicine and therapy won't help much. I'm going to revisit this review when I'm done w/the book (I'm only about 1/4 into it); but until then, I'll just say, I finally feel I'm on the right track. Even in just the first chapter, I knew, this book was for me. Even my husband picked it up and said, "Wow. This is so you!" (in a good way). I can't wait to share it w/ others that I know are troubled/plagued w/ similar issues. Hope this helps you in your search...

We all know the story of the brilliant yet tortured Van Gogh. His mind blowing creativity was only matched by bouts of deeply destructive depression. We've also become accustomed to hearing gossip about rock stars, artists, actors, and writers whose drug use, alcoholism, or suicide make the evening news. It seems the pairing of creativity and self destruction is a natural one.

The Van Gogh Blues doesn't seek to break this stereotype. Instead, it looks to examine the reason why creative people tend to have such extreme highs and lows. The answer seems so obvious that most of us probably would never have thought of it.

People who create tend to put all of their effort into their work. I do it myself, I can sit for hours and just type fully immersed in my own words and thoughts. Having such clarity of focus and such a single minded drive is fantastic.

However, once the project is complete, the creating is done. Suddenly, there is no more purpose. The individual is suddenly lost without any sort of direction. I can relate. I always know it's time to get back to my writing when I start to get depressed. Over time, I've learned that I have to a project. I have to create.

I am not fond of "self-help" books, which always become so quickly redundant, even when they make sense. This book, however, really hit home at a number of points regarding finding meaning in existence, supporting creativity, and understanding addiction from a different perspective (at least for me). I even went online and looked up creativity coaches in my area! For more of my rants, raves, and recommendations, please check out my book blog at allthepage.today.com

Eric visited Rainmaker's Prayers blog during his virtual tour for his newly released book "The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression." Shinan asked some difficult questions and Eric gave some brilliant answers that we feel are important enough to share with the world. So I've included them in this customer review.



Shinan Barclay : In the face of global warming/global cooling, Eric Maisel's book: "The Van Gogh Blues ," inspired me to compile an anthology entitled "Rainmaker's Prayers,Align with Global Harmony." How do I encourage clients and contributors to find and create meaning in their life?

Eric Maisel: By helping them make the paradigm shift from finding meaning to making meaning. There is no meaning to find; it is not lost. There is only meaning to make; meaning is a choice. Once people really understand
this distinction, they realize that they know enough already to make these choices and they can begin to stand behind their own meaning
decisions.

Shinan Barclay: With climate change and the extinction of thousands of species, many people feel hopeless and helpless. How do you encourage people to find meaning among the uncertainty and confusion of evironmental upheavals?

Eric Maisel: By reminding them that they have a life to lead and they can lead it authentically or inauthentically. They are not in charge of the
universe--no one is. They are in charge of only and precisely their own
life. They can make their life a thing of moral beauty by their choices or they can watch more television. Until the world actually ends, we have
the obligation to take charge of our life and aim it in the direction
of our choosing; that is what "making ethics" means.

Shinan Barclay: Some data says that major corporations control the media, i.e. television, newspapers and magazine, and that the American population is spoon-fed and numbed by "corporate propaganda." How can we create meaning in an inauthentic world?

Eric: Only with great difficulty--but life is difficulty. There never was
a guarantee that life would be easy. You think through what would
amount to right action in this kind of environment--where you can make the
most difference or any difference--and then you step in that
direction, recognizing that you can't alter the world's configuration, All you can do is make yourself proud by your own efforts. You heroically
try; that's it, period.

Rainmaker's Prayers, Align with Global Harmony

With so many books being published about creativity, it may be repetitive to read about the same old reflections and the same suggestions to nurture your abilities. Eric Maisel has found a refreshing way to address creative people's issues. With the Van Gogh Blues, he presents his approach to deal with the anxiety and depression creative persons tend to feel at different points in their lives.

While he doesn't shun the medical take on depression, he brings an existential understanding of the situation. This view expresses that a creator that repeatedly makes meaning, hold on to that meaning in his life (life's work meaning and meaningful day-to-day life)will have a better chance of dealing with an inclination to depression.

Eric Maisel covers the field as to how meaning can be created using other's artists biographies, emails from contemporary creators and his experience as a creativity coach (which might be the coolest job in the world, I think). The book's question could be: As creatives, how can we create meaning in life? This way, the books appeals to more than only the depressed artists. To top it off, the author writes in a clear but not-dumbed-down way, ideal to the sophisticated, intellectual reader who appreciates good writing.

Even for a person who constantly reads on creativity and life purpose, I found this book brings new ideas and a fresh take on what assails the creative person.

Where do I begin in describing this ink of Audrey Michelle?
It is sensual and poignant, salient and clever, inspirational and surreal. You can feel her joy and desperation with every breath; you reminisce and contemplate in every thought. Her words are confronting in their honesty because the lady is so real.

Well done...

Audrey's words, whether written or spoken, speak miles to my heart. Her imagery and unique use of styles keeps you at the edge of each write. I feel that I have gained a great knowledge of who Audrey Michelle is and wants to be: A phenomenal person and Author.

Audrey's poetry goes right to the heart, and from there rushes through your body to set you on fire, or to freeze you. Some pieces about death, that invite to meditate about life and death. And many juicy pieces, the most uninhibited erotic poetry I ever read!

3D Stereoscopic Portraits - Photography by Rolf Bertram - Posing by Audrey Michelle: Color and Infrared

Flexible: Posing by Audrey Michelle

This book gives a great insight into the mind of the author. She shares the deepest of emotions and makes herself open and accessible for her readers. Readers of any background will be able to relate to the universal themes and deep emotional commentary.

This book, with its juicy poetry and provocative photography really were a treat for my husband and me. It takes you to the lowest of lows, but brings you back up to the highest of highs. I'd recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a well-rounded portrayal of a real woman.

This is a VERY helpful little book... I read one each night before bed and it helps me remember to have patience, hope, courage and not give up on my loved one - or myself as I help him.

Murphey has been successful in grasping many of the different aspects of mental illness and depression in this easy-to-read daily encouragement book. Included in the daily hope are helpful hints and suggestions to enable caregivers. Many of the suggestions could be keys to opening up the minds and souls of the ones needing help due to depression or a mental illness. The book would make a great gift to those who are struggling with the everyday tasks of caring for depressed or mentally ill patients.

This book goes to places in the heart where other resources have not dared to go. The short but packed readings shed light on the real feelings and often unstated questions of those of us who love and care for someone who struggles with depression or mental illness. I don't have to be afraid of my questions or feelings or my own need for support and encouragement. I can face the uncertainties of depression in my loved one with hope. And with God. This is a book that will be a resource I'll keep close at hand and one which I will recommend and give as a gift many times over.

Cecil Murphey has stayed true to his word -- encouragement. Depression and Mental Illness are mysteries that often leave not only the patients, but the caregivers frustrated and lost. This book addresses honest feelings and gives comfort that the feelings we have are often shared with others.

The prayers offer assurance that we are not alone in this journey. Suggestions and experiences offer help and guidance. The list of support groups and resource materials are also quite beneficial.

A blessed treasure to return to often.... and a wonderful gift to share.

When you have a loved one with depression or mental illness all of your attention is focused on them. We easily forget about ourselves. If we do not nurture our own selves, our ability to help our loved ones is deeply affected.

This book and all the books in this series are extremely insightful and will help those who care for someone with depression or mental illness. If your loved one also suffers from Alzheimer's or Addiction we highly recommend Cecil Murphey's other books dealing with these topics.

Great follow up or lead in to Michael Brown's Presence process. Chapters are concise and direct to the point.

A great book to read as a intro before going to The Presence Process. After just being at a weekend workshop with Michael, there is no doubt of his intent, wisdom and heart. Being in the 7th session of the process, I am blown away at how I am feeling, what occurrences continue to deepen and expand my awareness. Most incredibly I am coming to a place of self love and acceptance that I have only heard others speak of and believe you me, I have studied and read much, seen countless spiritual/new age teacher/gurus and practiced many modalities of self healing....but this (and this is a very big BUT)....this is the "how to of all how to's" and I am ever so grateful for all the work Michael has done to bring it together in the way that he did. I am truly beginning to feel the liberation of all my past negative conditioning. Yeah!! So give it a go, use this wonderful tool to self facilitating your way back home...to YOU!!

I am like many of you that will be attracted to books such as these, a searcher for that unknown answer to that unknown question. I was moved 2 months ago to pick up Michael Brown's "Presence Process", and I did so without even reading a single word of the book. I took it home and fell in love with it, seeing myself on each page, knowing that my life would be forever changed from that moment forward. Of course, it would stand to reason that I would search out any and all material by Mr. Brown to ensure that I left no stone unturned regarding the deep and insightful teachings he was imparting, and subsequently I came upon "Alchemy of the Heart".

"Alchemy of the Heart" is a wonderful books as a stand alone, however, it does not offer much to someone who has read his previous material. I believe this book should be read FIRST, as it would assist the reader in his/her transition into the experience that Mr. Brown is so poignantly atttempting to engage us in. This book gives the reader insight into the terminology and verbal twists Mr. Brown enjoys utilizing to illustrate his points. I could go on forever, however, I am not the author, and you really need to read what this man has to say on your own. If you are struggling with which of his books to buy, I would say purchase this one first, then IMMEDIATELY purchase the "Presence Process", and get to work on it. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. You are being afforded the opportunity to meet/remeber your authentic self, and for most of us it will be the first time you have ever done it. I hope this review helps:) Mike

Like "The Presence Process" this is an incredible book. Actually with M.Brown's work my search for existential sense is over.
Just listen to his (totally free!) audios at http://www.thepresenceportal.com/

Be prepared for subtle and not so subtle changes in your perceptions if you decide to read this book. You won't have to think about it; just reading this book seems to be enough to stir your mind's veil aside and glimpse reality. Once you get a glimpse, everything is changed.