Bookshelf: From Passion to Trauma

The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Deeply Unhappy Kids

By Madeline Levine, Ph.D. (HarperCollins)

Samantha is one of those golden Californian girls. She gets perfect grades, is a fixture on the cheerleading squad and is the polished product of privilege. She also has a frighteningly detailed suicide plan. Levine offers Samantha's story, and many others, as examples of an epidemic of troubled rich kids. Under intense pressure to succeed, children can't develop the healthy sense of self that comes with taking risks. Levine provides parents with an empathetic antidote for the distress hidden behind affluence.

Is It Me or My Meds? Living With Antidepressants

By David A. Karp (Harvard University Press)

When you take a drug that changes your moods, feelings and perceptions, how do you keep track of the real you? Karp, a sociologist who has himself struggled with depression, talks to the real experts on psychotropic drugs: the users. Interviews with 50 patients reveal inconsistent results, troublesome side effects and chemical dependency paired with a driving desire to quit. Karp plumbs their elemental question: "Who am I?"

Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking

By Thomas Kida (Prometheus)

Beating the stock market, "streak shooting" and ESP: Which of these illusions do you buy into? Chances are, after reading Kida's expose of the ways that logical flaws and misunderstandings are ingrained in our thinking, you'll uncover a few of these habits in yourself. Using statistically backed arguments to reveal the faults in notions from long-range weather forecasts to lucky numbers, Kida offers enlightening advice on how to trim common misconceptions and make decisions based on solid ground.

Who Are You People? A Personal Journey into the Heart of Fanatical Passion in America

By Shari Caudron (Barricade)

Barbie collectors, Andy Griffith reenactors, Trekkies—most of us look down our noses at hard-core aficionados, but Caudron turned to them to discover what inspires passion. Many of these zealots are undeniably odd, but she comes to respect them for their commitment, their mutual support and their willingness to look like geeks in the eyes of others. Along the way, she crafts a warm, funny anthropology of outsiders who, by following their fancy, have found a home.

Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence

By Matthew Sanford (Rodale)

Losing his father, his sister—and his legs—in a terrible car accident at the age of 13 did not stop Matthew Sanford from living his life. In Waking, he retraces his traumatic trek, from hospitalization to fathering a family. Holistic philosophy and the practice of yoga eventually bring him peace. The memoir is easy to read, although metered by harrowing details. Sanford offers a powerful, honest account of his battle: awakening a spirit within a damaged body.

Stop Being Your Symptoms and Start Being Yourself: The 6-Week Mind-Body Program to Ease Your Chronic Symptoms

By Arthur Barsky, M.D. and Emily Deans, M.D (HarperCollins)

As a country, we have become healthier, but we feel worse. A culture of wellness has raised our expectations so that illness—even daily irritations like stomach pains, joint aches, fatigue and headaches—seems intolerable. Psychiatrists Barsky and Deans, who work with chronically ill patients, have seen first-hand which coping techniques work best. Here, they teach you how to reinterpret physical sensations, reduce stress, distract yourself from health worries and adopt more productive ways to deal with ailments.