June 1, 2021
Bestselling author Haig offers a book's worth of apothegms to serve as guides to issues ranging from disquietude to self-acceptance. Like many collections of this sort--terse snippets of advice, from the everyday to the cosmic--some parts will hit home with surprising insight, some will feel like old hat, and others will come across as disposable or incomprehensible. Years ago, Haig experienced an extended period of suicidal depression, so he comes at many of these topics--pain, hope, self-worth, contentment--from a hard-won perspective. This makes some of the material worthy of a second look, even when it feels runic or contrary to experience. The author's words are instigations, hopeful first steps toward illumination. Most chapters are only a few sentences long, the longest running for three pages. Much is left unsaid and left up to readers to dissect. On being lost, Haig recounts an episode with his father when they got turned around in a forest in France. His father said to him, "If we keep going in a straight line we'll get out of here." He was correct, a bit of wisdom Haig turned to during his depression when he focused on moving forward: "It is important to remember the bottom of the valley never has the clearest view. And that sometimes all you need to do in order to rise up again is to keep moving forward." Many aphorisms sound right, if hardly groundbreaking--e.g., a quick route to happiness is making someone else happy; "No is a good word. It keeps you sane. In an age of overload, no is really yes. It is yes to having space you need to live"; "External events are neutral. They only gain positive or negative value the moment they enter our mind." Haig's fans may enjoy this one, but others should take a pass. A handful of pearls amid a pile of empty oyster shells.
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June 1, 2021
Haig calls them life rafts, thoughts he's recorded that have helped keep him afloat. The best-selling author of Notes on a Nervous Planet (2019) and The Midnight Library (2020) offers earnest reflections in this thought-provoking, affirming collection that is both personal and universal. Haig shares his struggles with mental health and what he's learned about the beauty it's possible to perceive even on the darkest days. He describes how his life-threatening depression seemed to define him, and what it took to recover from a massive breakdown. He shares insights from others who faced epic challenges, such as the 17-year-old survivor of a commercial flight that crash-landed in the Amazon rain forest. Haig bounces from topics like food and social media to philosophy and quantum physics with grace, and finds lessons in the lives of historical figures like Beethoven, Marcus Aurelius, and Nellie Bly. His work is filled to the brim with the power of self-acceptance, connection, and the knowledge that troubles will pass. With Haig's trademark empathy and celebration of the resilience of the human heart, this is a book we all need and deserve.
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