mental health

The author describes her experiences growing up on the Virginia peninsula with a schizophrenic mother who thinks a war is coming.

In the late 1700s Englishman James Matthew Tilly believes his mind is controlled by a secret machine known as the "Air Loom," and he is placed in Bedlam where psychiatrists question the validity of his claims.

Details Mathilde Monaque's battle with depression, which began when she was diagnosed at the age of fourteen, and describes how her illness affected her life and family.

27-year-old British autistic savant Daniel Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Here, Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements, which include teaching in Lithuania, achieving financial independence with an educational Web site and sustaining a long-term romantic relationship.

In "Monkey Mind," Daniel Smith brilliantly articulates what it is like to live with anxiety, defanging the disease with humor, traveling through its demonic layers, evocatively expressing both its painful internal coherence and its absurdities.

The father of a son diagnosed with autism at the age of three chronicles his experiences watching his child grow from a strange, distant toddler into an extraordinary young man with a unique connection to the world around him.