For others with similar names, see Daniel Smith disambiguation. This list is incomplete ; you can help by expanding it. Accessed June 24, Houghton Mifflin , , pp. Doubleday , , p. Retrieved from " https: Views Read Edit View history.
- Monkey Mind.
- Monkey Mind | Book by Daniel Smith | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster AU;
- Telepathy is Real Book I..
He says his fa The first quarter or so of this book is very funny, describing his severe anxiety in general. He says his father's anxious too, but his father never appears in the book. More seriously, then he goes on to detail a terrible article he wrote for the Atlantic Monthly in about ECT. I remember that article, and the controversy about it, even though that was over ten years ago. I bought this book on Kindle so there was nothing on the cover flaps or back that might have warned me this is the same author I'd be curious if there's anything on the hard copy that might connect him with the article.
If I'd known, I might not have even bought the book. That article represented a terrible low for the Atlantic's journalism in general and psychiatric journalism in particular. No, I'm not exaggerating. This is deadly serious. I detest Peter Kramer's book about Listening to Prozac, for his shallow and superficial emphasis on cosmetic psychopharmacology, for the same reasons. It's why I detested Frey's "memoir. Claiming you were victimized by mentally ill people who have actually gone through ECT because they made you feel bad -- I have absolutely no respect for that.
If you want to read a memoir about severe anxiety which starts off very amusingly, descends into boring autobiography and then is infuriatingly defensive "I hadn't killed anyone or knocked anyone up. I hadn't even acted maliciously" His shitty article - http: People respond - http: Liz Spikol - http: Linda Andre's book detailing how she felt he mispresented her in the article - http: Because they're cheap labour, that's why, and until someone outside your magazine calls them on it, this kind of incompetence can just slide.
Because you're not willing to pay for quality. Dec 26, Chaim rated it it was ok Shelves: Smith doesn't really convey what it feels like to suffer from crippling anxiety. I kept thinking back to Marya Hornbacher's Madness: Hornbacher drags us into her mind. When she's manic, we feel invincible.
When she's down, we really don't see how things could get better. I left that memoir feeling dizzied, dazed, like I'd suffered with her. Smith, by contrast, doesn't seem to take his subject matter all that seriously. Instead of earnestly describing what it's like to suffer from this type of anxiety, he chooses to treat it all like a joke, delivering his material like a stand-up comic: For this reason, the book reminded me of Shalom Auslander's promising but ultimately disappointing Foreskin's Lament.
Jul 03, Maureen rated it did not like it. A horrible and too loosely woven memoir. I would like those past few hours of my life back. Oprah's book recommendations failed me terribly this time. This poor guy is clearly suffering, and there are moments of clarity where he is actually able to articulate what it is like to have an anxiety disorder, but most of the book is an incoherent, self -serving collection of quotations and the author does not do justice to his topic. Jul 21, RandomAnthony rated it liked it. Jacobs cover-blurbs Daniel Smith's Monkey Mind.
This is not necessarily a positive harbinger. Jacobs has spawned a genre of cutsey-but-not-horrible books in which the author does something wacky like buying a Korean deli or living according to strict Biblical tenets then keeps a diary of his travails and insecurities. Monkey Mind ventures into more serious territory but retains the basic formula. Less serious, maybe similar in narrative. These book sell and I imagine the magazine business isn't exactly, uh, stable.
So I understand the motivation. While Monkey Mind isn't a medical textbooks it's not like Smith engages in false advertising. He's telling his anxiety story.
Daniel Smith (writer)
That's valuable in its own right. I'm not comfortable with how fast and loose Smith plays with science, psychology and causality, so I wouldn't frame Monkey Mind as anything but a narrative in which anxiety-experiencers may recognize themselves and, I hope, feel less weird and alone. Smith is smart and articulate, and Monkey Mind breezes intelligently until he introduces an awkward romantic angle that seems to exist only to frame the book's climax.
Monkey Mind stakes its claim describing anxiety with grace and humor. Perfect for your depression-oriented book club. View all 6 comments. Jan 30, Rob rated it liked it. Daniel Smith's memoir may deserve better than this middling score, but here's where I'm coming from: I knew going in that this wasn't a self-help book — I wouldn't have read it if it was — but I was hoping that by reading Smith's "memoir of anxiety" I might gain some insight into the condition I've wrestled with since my early teenage years.
While I felt myself nodding along "Yeah, that sounds familiar.
You've gotta tell me something I don't already know. My hunch is that Monkey Mind would be far more interesting to those who aren't dealing with anxiety. It would serve as a travelogue, a chance to venture someplace that might be interesting to visit but where you'd never want to live. Dec 24, Debbie rated it liked it Shelves: I had high hopes for this memoir but ultimately was disappointed. What I got instead was a book with some anecdotes but an equal number of dissertations on philosophy.
Smith, obviously a smart cookie, mentions Freud a few too many times, but his diatribe on Kierkegaard is the deal breaker. Instead, I had to suffer through pages and pages of boring information right smack in the middle of a memoir. It added nothing to the story of his Life with Anxiety; in fact, it detracted from it. He talked on and on about anxiety being the curse of young Jewish men, repeatedly citing the novels of Philip Roth.
Even though I know he wasn't saying that an old Gentile woman can't have anxiety, I sure couldn't relate to him and I found his epiphany boring boring boring. On the positive side, Smith does know anxiety and makes some interesting but overly intellectual observations—the fact that I can remember none at this moment is proof of how convoluted these observations are.
It was, however, fun and cathartic to read that his therapist handed down a common and very chant-able mantra: So I hated the huge, chunky middle of this book, but the beginning and end made it a palatable and even enjoyable read at times. With humor and suspense, he describes the events that caused his major bouts with anxiety, starting with the bizarre and dramatic way he lost his virginity when he was a young teenager. Later, when he has a stressful job as a fact-checker at a major publishing house, his anxiety is once again heightened, and one of the by-products is excessive sweat pouring out of his armpits.
One of the best and funniest parts of this book was his description of this sweat and the absurd lengths he went to in order to hide it. This is good stuff—and stuff that I will not forget.
In the middle of this book, I threatened to abandon it. I huffed and puffed. However, since Smith did redeem himself in the last part of the book, I begrudgingly upped it to a 3. I had never read about anxiety before, and I didn't expect this to be as frank as it turned out to be, but I liked that. This is the story of Daniel Smith's life, it's not made up, it's real, and it's not a story about everything getting better, it's an on-going battle. I think before reading this I understood the concept of anxiety, but I didn't necessarily understand h So I read this book as part of the MHAReadathon which focuses on highlighting Mental Health conditions and talking about them.
I think before reading this I understood the concept of anxiety, but I didn't necessarily understand how debilitating it could be or how it was different to panicking and stressing. This book certainly delved deep into the differences and causes for the author at least and I liked being able to see a glimpse into an anxious mind and try to understand the condition more myself.
I do think that in terms of writing style this didn't work as well for me as some memoirs I have read, but as an overall informative text and life story, who am I to judge. This was easy to get through and highly interesting and insightful at times. Sep 19, Diane rated it liked it Shelves: An amusing but slightly long-winded memoir by a writer suffering from severe anxiety. Daniel Smith begins the book by trying to find the origin of his anxieties.
What event in childhood caused him to start panicking? His mother, a psychotherapist, also suffers from anxiety and is able to help, but Daniel thinks she may have been part of the problem. My favorite chapter was when Daniel got a job at The Atlantic magazine as a fact-checker. He's thrilled to be working there, but it also causes him An amusing but slightly long-winded memoir by a writer suffering from severe anxiety.
He's thrilled to be working there, but it also causes him to flop sweat and to panic under the pressure. There are some tips Daniel uses to calm his anxiety, but he acknowledges that there will be no recovery for him, only ongoing treatment. Recommended for psychology enthusiasts. Aug 30, Diane Yannick rated it did not like it.
This book did not work for me on so many levels. I did not want to follow Daniel Smith on his many long egotistical meanderings.
I never felt that he was totally sincere or interested in developing a compelling narrative. His attempts to add humor to his saga felt labored. He showed his mother's personality through her actions and that rang true. His own personality was mostly shown through rivers of words that didn't resonate with me. I think that his editors let him down.
His struggles with an This book did not work for me on so many levels. His struggles with anxiety deserve to be told but in a more engaging way. Mar 27, Dean Italiano rated it it was amazing. Yeah, you can say it piqued my interest. I told hubby he didn't have to read it, as he's lived with it for over 20 years.
That is, if you feel it is psychologically healthy for you to do so. You may or may not be as bad, the same as, or worse than the examples given by the Jewish boy-teen-man, but the anxiety is presented in such a way that it's almost a character. It's lightheart Yeah, you can say it piqued my interest. It's lighthearted, but still honest. The part about those things that pop up in our heads and yell at us before we even realize it and the physical response comes so quickly we think that's what comes first, How all-encompassing anxiety can be? Who he decides to call and have a fit when he was in college?
Not so much me, but it still made me chuckle. But here's my favourite part, especially after growing up Catholic, but more recently spending time in Dharma classes and learning meditation, keeping Buddha statues around the house and occasionally wearing Mala Beads Again, it might be all timing and the gods picking out books for me, but this is another one I would suggest to those with anxiety, and those living with them.
I had to finish this book quickly, because when my boys saw the cover they thought it was a book about Toy Story 3 and wanted to make the book one of their play-toys! Jul 05, Harry Rubenstein rated it it was amazing. A very well written, brutally honest, humorous and semi-dark memoir of living with anxiety. Though some of the content hit a bit too close to home, it was not anxiety attack inducing but rather provided me with the feeling that I was in good company. Don't read this if you are looking for a book offer solutions and remedies, but rather a real portrayal of what is like living with an anxiety disorder.
Great A very well written, brutally honest, humorous and semi-dark memoir of living with anxiety. Sep 13, Jonathan rated it really liked it. This is a really funny book about a condition that is no fun at all. It sums up very well the thoughts that go through an anxious mind. We all experience anxiety on some level, but chronic, debilitating anxiety is a different beast altogether and Smith describes it with a great sense of humor and compassion.
If you've ever suffered from really bad anxiety or know somebody who has, this will make a very entertaining read. Jun 27, Magen rated it did not like it Recommends it for: While the description presents this book as providing a sense of how anxiety feels for all anxiety sufferers, in reality, it presents how anxiety feels to one person who has moderate to severe generalized anxiety likely Trigger warning: While the description presents this book as providing a sense of how anxiety feels for all anxiety sufferers, in reality, it presents how anxiety feels to one person who has moderate to severe generalized anxiety likely triggered by a combination of nurture and a one-off trauma Smith does not characterize as such but clearly is - see Emma Sea's review.
It is important to understand this distinction because this description of anxiety does not accurately apply to someone with generalized anxiety due to complex, prolonged trauma, anxiety which is part of PTSD, or social anxiety. For some readers, this may be a small nuisance, but for anxiety suffers, it is rather significant. While recently I have enjoyed some memoirs, I tend to not particularly enjoy the genre, unless it crosses over into another genre, like comedy memoirs, and is rather lighthearted.
I was excited going into this memoir since it crossed over into mental health and the blurb and title gave the impression it would be a humorous read on a serious subject. I was also hopeful for an interesting depiction of anxiety, how it manifests, and possibly, how the author handles it. It also is not at all light and humorous but instead covers the topic of anxiety very seriously and goes into extensive detail about a trauma, which is quite clearly rape but which the author claims was instead a weakness on his part.
Daniel Smith (writer) - Wikipedia
This is incredibly unsettling and the dismissal of this trauma as "consensual" by everyone except the author's mother in an egregious error which feeds rape culture and could be potentially devastatingly damaging to readers who are survivors of similar rape. I am shocked and horrified that a memoir about anxiety would perpetuate rape culture and quite likely fuel the anxiety of the author and readers with similar histories. My last complaint is with how the book ended, with him winning back his girlfriend - the one who helped calm his anxiety - and marrying her.
If I wanted a cheesy book where a romance fixes everything, I would have read women's fiction or romance. That ending is doing anxiety sufferers a disservice. I cannot recommend this book, even for people who enjoy memoirs and even though it is a solid, well-written memoir because of the rape denial. For anxiety sufferers or rape survivors, I would highly recommend passing on this book.
Please warn fellow readers who express interest in this book. Sep 27, Scott rated it liked it. AND Smith is supposedly "laugh-out-loud" funny, according to several reviewers.
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While there are some strong moments here his metaphors and images of what such overwhelming anxiety feels like, and its specific manifestations, such as extreme nail-biting, or the spiral into insanity when faced with the choice between BBQ sauce and ketchup at rest stop Arby's off the the NJ Turnpike , really, Smith, for me, just didn't have the appeal necessary to keep me caring, nor did he offer enough insight or history into the disease itself to teach me much of anything. You kind of have to like a guy on the most basic level to go with him on such a journey, from his initial attack at age 16 after losing his virginity in a threesome to a pair of unattractive older woman he freaks out and tells his MOM about it, sobbing and hugging her, and she's a therapist, and, just, I dont know I originally gave this book 1 star.
There were just parts that were so boring due to the the author's citing psychologists and other medical speak It is not that I don't appreciate that. It just not what I was looking for in this book. I just wanted to know his story as I also suffer from Anxiety Disorder. I just wanted to hear another person's story about their suffering. With that said, I did get that out of this book once I got through all psychological jargon.
Jun 25, Dkattean rated it liked it. I'm not sure if I was supposed to laugh as much as I did at Mr. This is one of the funniest and most insightful books I've read in a long time. Let me be clear - I wasn't laughing at Mr. Smith, but with him. You are not at the wheel. It has peaks and valleys. It peaks the first day his parents drop him off at Brandeis University and valleys during his senior year of high school. It peaks, again, post-college with his first job as a fact-checker for The Atlantic and his first serious relationship. Smith features many interesting insights about anxiety, including his own musings.
He draws from the work of psychologists, writers and philosophers, including Soren Kierkegaard and Charles Darwin. For instance, he discusses the difficult task of distinguishing between two very different anxieties:. His descriptions of anxiety and panic — which he views as two dramatically different experiences — are spot-on. In the middle of the book he describes the cycle of his anxiety and its various phases.
He explains his personal anxiety scale, which goes from zero to He registers an 8. And ultimately, he inspires readers to keep going; not to let their anxiety disrupt their dreams or their goals.