An illuminating, myth-free exploration of mental health from a unique perspective.
A sobering and eye-opening look at the psychedelic drug MDMA and how people’s quest for healing persists through the generations.
Science writer Nuwer, author of Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, begins by noting how MDMA, aka ecstasy, started out as one of the most restricted Schedule I drugs. Now, it is on the way to being FDA approved for use in a therapeutic setting for individuals who struggle with a plethora of mental health problems. The author offers numerous memorable firsthand accounts of using MDMA in various settings such as raves, in therapy, recreationally, and in many other scenarios, exemplifying the various benefits and drawbacks of the drug in the quest for connection. Nuwer effectively brings us into a community of people who have dedicated their lives to the drug, fashioning a colorfully curated story of its therapeutic uses and how it fits into the larger narrative of health care reform. One of the overarching themes of the book is the need for effective regulation of MDMA and other drugs, which would ensure a safe outlet to those who choose to use them as part of a treatment program. Throughout the book, Nuwer presents studies that show the potential advantages of using MDMA in a therapeutic setting to help individuals, such as veterans, autistic adults with social anxiety, and those struggling from alcoholism, heal from their trauma and go into the world with fresh perspectives on how to manage their mental well-being. Although research on how MDMA interacts within the human brain is still early in development, it is paving the way for significant changes in how people heal from a host of mental issues. Even though MDMA has a tumultuous road ahead, the community that stands behind the drug continues to demonstrate its positive impact in many people’s lives. Pair this with Michael Pollan’s This Is Your Mind on Plants.
An illuminating, myth-free exploration of mental health from a unique perspective.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781635579574
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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