Audiobooks by Andrew Solomon

'The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment.' In a talk equal parts eloquent and devastating, writer Andrew Solomon takes you to the darkest corners of his mind during the years he battled depression. That led him to an eye-opening journey across the world to interview others with depression -- only to discover that, to his surprise.

Andrew Solomon (Author), Andrew Solomon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Far and Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change

From the winner of the National Book Award and the National Books Critics' Circle Award-and one of the most original thinkers of our time-a riveting collection of essays about places in dramatic transition. Far and Away collects Andrew Solomon's writings about places undergoing seismic shifts-political, cultural, and spiritual. Chronicling his stint on the barricades in Moscow in 1991, when he joined artists in resisting the coup whose failure ended the Soviet Union, his 2002 account of the rebirth of culture in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, his insightful appraisal of a Myanmar seeped in contradictions as it slowly, fitfully pushes toward freedom, and many other stories of profound upheaval, this book provides a unique window onto the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments alter. A journalist and essayist of remarkable perception and prescience, Solomon captures the essence of these cultures. Ranging across seven continents and twenty-five years, Far and Away takes a magnificent journey into the heart of extraordinarily diverse experiences, yet Solomon finds a common humanity wherever he travels. Illuminating the development of his own genius, his stories are always intimate and often both funny and deeply moving.

Andrew Solomon (Author), Andrew Solomon (Narrator)

Audiobook

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity

From the National Book Award-winning author of the "brave...deeply humane...open-minded, critically informed, and poetic" (The New York Times) The Noonday Demon, comes a game-changer of a book about the impact of extreme personal and cultural difference between parents and children. A brilliant and utterly original thinker, Andrew Solomon's journey began from his experience of being the gay child of straight parents. He wondered how other families accommodate children who have a variety of differences: families of people who are deaf, who are dwarfs, who have Down syndrome, who have autism, who have schizophrenia, who have multiple severe disabilities, who are prodigies, who commit crimes, who are transgender. Bookended with Solomon's experiences as a son, and then later as a father, this book explores the old adage that says the apple doesn't fall far from the tree; instead some apples fall a couple of orchards away, some on the other side of the world. In twelve sharply observed and moving chapters, Solomon describes individuals who have been heartbreaking victims of intense prejudice, but also stories of parents who have embraced their childrens' differences and tried to change the world's understanding of their conditions. Solomon's humanity, eloquence, and compassion give a voice to those people who are never heard. A riveting, powerful take on a major social issue, Far from the Tree offers far-reaching conclusions about new families, academia, and the way our culture addresses issues of illness and identity.

Andrew Solomon (Author), Andrew Solomon (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Noonday Demon

The Noonday Demon is an examination of depression written in the first and third person. Drawing on the author's own experience of the illness, medical literature, interviews with hundreds of other sufferers, doctors, policy makers, drug designers, scientists, sociologists, philosophers, lawyers, politicians, and many other sources, the book reveals depression at both the personal and the cultural level. The first part of the book is about what constitutes depression and how people deal with it. Chapters confront the problems of defining the illness; breakdowns and their immediate consequences; biochemical and psychodynamic treatments; alternative treatments from the experimental to the wacky; special populations including the elderly, women, racial minorities, etc.; addiction and its bearing on depression; and suicide as an issue distinct from depression. The second part of the book examines the current state of the complaint; the problem of depression among the poor; the politics of the illness at both the legislative and the bureaucratic level; the evolutionary perspective on the disease; and the moral questions posed by biological explanations of mental illness. The book ultimately looks at the boundary between disease and personality, demonstrating that we are narrowing our definition of mental health and thereby causing mental illness. It also examines the matter of character, showing that recovery from mental illness involves not only biological treatment, but also strength, endurance, will, and love. Solomon's contribution to an understanding both of depression and of the human condition is absolutely stunning. He balances his astonishingly lucid and candid account of his own experience with profound empathy and insight into the experiences of other depressives -- some from similar backgrounds, some unutterably different -- and with a truly agile navigation of the relevant fields of study from pychopharmocology to philosophy. Like Simon Schama or Jacques Barzun or Robert Hughes, he uses a single lens -- depression -- to shape a sweeping work of immense cultural significance.

Andrew Solomon (Author), Barrett Whitener (Narrator)

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The Noonday Demon

With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, National Book Award winner Andrew Solomon takes the listener on a journey of incomparable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews wit fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policymakers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has had on various demographic populations around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. The depth of human experience Solomon chronicles, the range of his intelligence, and his boundless curiosity and compassion will change the listener's view of the world.

Andrew Solomon (Author), Andrew Solomon (Narrator)

Audiobook