An enlightening read for those looking to buck traditional epilepsy treatments in favor of plant-based, spiritual therapies.
De Ory offers a thoroughly researched treatise on epilepsy and its alternative treatments.
This hefty tome is much more than a clinical handbook: Each section begins with a personal memory that helped shape the author’s life, beginning with his diagnosis of generalized epilepsy as a child. Part I traces epilepsy’s history, from it being considered a spiritual and/or supernatural affliction in many cultures to the acknowledgment of its medical origins, beginning in ancient Greece. Part II covers the author’s deep dive into the world of entheogens (more popularly known as “psychedelics”). While cannabis has been scientifically shown to help prevent seizures, de Ory also makes a connection between “the altered states of consciousness triggered by mind-manifesting substances and those triggered by the post-ictal epileptic seizure.” That finding ushers in Part III, in which he discusses humanity’s ability to tap into the “psychic nature of the collective unconscious” as a way of coping with not just epilepsy, but with the ills of the world as a whole. The sheer amount of research included is impressive—the guide is over 400 pages long, not including nine pages of references and a 37-page bibliography. While the author does his best to break his subject down for readers, the terms and concepts he tackles may prove difficult: “To be born and to die is perhaps the quintessential paradox of a predicament that ushers us in and out of our material existence whilst safeguarding our transcendence throughout the trials of our corporality.” His writing remains eloquent throughout, alternating between scientific reporting and novelistic personal anecdotes: “As I was walking away from the University campus with my girlfriend on a gray winter afternoon, I swallowed a tiny white piece of blotting paper impregnated with LSD…suddenly, the familiar world around me collapsed while a dazzling reality surged from within.” While there is plenty of fascinating history and spiritual theory included, readers who don’t approve of illegal drug use will likely want to skip all of Part II.
An enlightening read for those looking to buck traditional epilepsy treatments in favor of plant-based, spiritual therapies.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2022
ISBN: 9798419305977
Page Count: 474
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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