5 comments about Do Butterflies Carry Spare Parts.

1. I read Sarah Bryce's "Do Butterflies Have Spare Parts" and cried and laughed and got mad with the medical community and ached as the parents and family struggled through this painful ordeal. Sarah Bryde has opened up an avenue for us who have "different" children and with education and books like this maybe we can bring more understanding and healing to multitudes that need it.
   The book was the most loving and sincere and showed the love of a family, striving to stay intact under difficult circumstances. I highly recommend the book to any one who wants to understand human differences.



2. This is a very fascinating book, brings out the loving relationship of Bill and Sarah Bryce with their highly gifted son Malcom who suffered from a severe nervous disorder.
   The book tells of their acquaintance with a physical therapist through whose help and encouragement they were able to help their son deal with the problems he faced.
   Thru this book and our friendship with the Bryces, I was put in touch with the therapist, Ed Snapp. By treatment in his clinic I have benefited greatly in my battle with a periferal nerve disease.
   Martin Schmidt 1343 31 Rd, Minden, NE 68959



3. Sarah Bryce eloquently illustrates the challenges of having a son with special needs. The reader is transported into the world of the 1960's & 1970's, when little was known in the medical and educational communities about children with undiagnosable conditions. In a time where warehousing handicapped children was encouraged, Bill & Sarah Bryce bravely navigated the turbulent waters of ignorance, nonchalance & anger. Instead of giving up hope, they sought help in both conventional and unconventional arenas and were successful. This book is a lesson in tenacity, courage and love.



4. This book tells about how one mother never gave up trying to find help for her son. Her story is an inspiration to others who have to struggle for appropriate medical care, effective educational methods, and physical endurance to carry on over the years and never give up. After the first page, a reader cannot put it down. The story keeps unfolding, even when you think there can't be more. The Bryce family worked together to gain spiritual strength, and now Sarah shares their story with her readers.



5. This is a book that comes straight from the heart. It is about a mother's heroic struggle over many years to help her developmentally-challenged son, whose immune system has apparently been severely damaged by a chemical intended for termites. This voyage through many years of treatment, through false starts, frustrating encounters with ignorant school teachers and officials, is also a spiritual journey that leads to encounters with forces of evil that seem otherworldly. All of this leads to shocking ending that no reader could expect. Highly recommended.

2 comments about Deaf Women's Lives: Three Self-Portraits (Deaf Lives Series, Vol. 3).

1. The collaborative effort of Bainy Cyrus, Eileen Katz, Celeste Cheyney, and Frances M. Parsons, Deaf Women's Lives: Three Self-Portraits presents the lives of three deaf women through their own eyes and in their own words. One works as a counselor for mainstreamed deaf and disabled students; one survived harrowing Nazi attacks upon England during World War II; and one has traveled the world to teach administrators and deaf students how to communicate better. Black-and-white photographs illustrate this inspirational triple biography of women who refused to let their inability to hear limit their lives or their dreams.



2. Being a physician, albeit a hearing one, I considered myself fairly insightful about communicating with deaf people. How wrong I was! This book educated me in terms of "deaf awareness", helping me to understand better the challenges, and above all, the incredible hard work that deaf people face when functioning in a hearing world. For the first time, I glimpsed the rationale behind a deaf culture where sign language reigns supreme, where those of us who hear and talk with our voices are superfluous in a rich, rewarding personal life. I imagine that signing feels like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers after struggling all day in uncomfortable leather shoes that do not fit well!
   
   In the book, the three women profiled show us three different approaches to communicating with others in their world. Most importantly for me is that they tell their stories as women - women who have made their way through life with courage, determination and great good humor. Such is the measure of success. In their work, these women have ministered to the deaf, as well as families, schools, and communities. Through this book, they minister to all of us, helping us understand some extraordinary people who cross our paths.

No comments about And the Journey Begins.

1 comments about Through the Barren Trees.

1. I met Nancy on an airplane. She was reading her own book, interestingly enough. It's been a year since it was published and it was her time for to re-trace her own footsteps in the path she once walked. It's a journal that was thankfully written for her own purposes and thankfully shared in "Through the Barren Trees". Sometimes it takes a shock to the system, a test of your humanity, a disaster, perhaps a windfall, to test one's resilience. In this case, Nancy's resilience was tested, and she rebounded with apparently a stronger spirit. It's a story about growing spiritually. It's a story about "why we're here" It's a story worth reading if you're on a path towards you're own enlightened self. I'm pretty sure you can find value in it regardless of your religious tendency. It's not a religious book, it's a spiritual one. Enjoy. Thank you for sharing, Nancy!

No comments about Inside Anorexia: The Experiences of Girls and Their Families.

No comments about Always Happy or The Story of Helen Keller.

No comments about Things No Longer There: A Memoir of Losing Sight and Finding Vision.

5 comments about Silencing the voices: one woman's experience with multiple personality disorder.

1. Even though I don't have multiple personality I could relate with many parts of this book. I thought it was wonderfully written and gave me things to think about in my abuse recovery. Many thanks to those who have the courage to step out and share their lives in order to help others.



2. As the spouse of a multiple I found this book to be very informative in the area of how the multiple personalities process in their mind the abuse they are put through. I noted many similarities from my own observations. One of my wife's personalities wants to read the book but I've cautioned her about the potential triggering portions but also stated that she might find the description of the road to integration to be encouraging. Congradulations to the author. I have an understanding of the strength it took to write this book.



3. In doing research about Dissociative Identity Disorder I was referred to this book. It clarified so many things about the disorder, how it works, how if affects everyone from the patient to the family and how it can be cured. I highly recommend this book! It's a wonderful story of support and recovery and also gives a graphic depiction into the mind/life of an abuser; through her father's actions. Jean has done a good job of relaying her experiences to the world.



4. Jean Cline's recounting of her horrific experiences with her twisted father took courage. She does not back away from her experiences in retelling them in this book; she confronts them and by setting an example encourages others to do likewise.

   Jean Cline developed three distinct personalities to cope with her overwhelming life conditions. Like most persons with DID/MPD, she was highly creative, artistically talented and suffered horrendous abusive childhood experiences. She gives a fresh voice to this now recognized condition and it is through her perseverance that she is able to "integrate" her "alters" and become a core. She is Gestalt; the whole person is greater than the sum of her parts (alters). Like a shifting kaleidoscope, Jean Cline shifts into various patterns of behavior and appearances. Like a kaleidoscope, at no time is she ever the same. Once integrated, she is able to make peace with herself.




5. Even today, Multiple Personality Disorder(MPD) challenges psychologists and health care practitioners. One common denominator MPD patients seem to share is childhood trauma, usually sexual and/or physical abuse. Children use the natural human ability to "disassociate" when the pain or trauma becomes more than they can bear. After the body has been hurt, the child may no longer feel the pain because the mind has found "a safer place to be." In MPD "alters" or "other personalities" emerge; they may be male or female, child or adult, extrovert or introvert. This book is the journey of Jean Darby Cline from childhood abuse at the hands of her father, verbal abuse in her first marriage, and diagnosis as a "multiple" to therapy and healing with the help of Jack M. Reiter, M.D.,P.S.

   As the book will reveal, the healing process can be as painful as the childhood abuse. During therapy, the patient often relives the memories and pain of the abuse. Often MPD patients are not aware, prior to therapy, of the multiples living inside them. They may realize there is a problem but not know exactly what the problem is. Jean Darby Cline exposes her feelings, fears and pain, and gives the reader a true account and inside view of what it is like to live with MPD. In her case, she had three alters, but it is not uncommon for patients to have many, many more as was the case in the book, "Sybil."

   If you want to learn more on MPD, I would highly recommend "Silencing the Voices" as well as, "First Person Plural" by Cameron West(see my review.)Both are excellent books on the subject.

2 comments about Sex, Violence, and Schizophrenia.

1. This book amazed me! I have known the author for several years and knew him during this time he writes of. He writes about the confusion, the voices, the strange ideas and paranoia with startling clarity and honesty. As he says in his own words, this book is not so much about how he lived and coped with his schizophrenia, it's a glimpse into the mind of the schizophrenic personality. I think this book would be great for psych students or just for help in understanding someone you may know who has been diagnosed with this disease. It won't tell you how to deal with them, but it will give you an open window into where they are..just know that it will be stranger than anything you can imagine!



2. This book shows, very well, what it's like to have schizophrenia. He was very brave. I know the guy and he's a good person and very funny. I'm just glad he did not shoot himself, because I may have in the same situation! I would have never know what he went through by knowing him, but after reading this I have a new respect for him. This book is easy to read and follow. The book is terrifying at times and funny at other times. He shows what it was like to walk in his shoes through that period of time. It's very detailed. You will really enjoy reading this book. Buy it now.

5 comments about Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

1. Morton Kondrake's book is about much more than his wife Milly's Parkinson's disease. It's also about their life together, their marriage, the differences that caused friction between them, Kondrake's struggles in his career and those to overcome his own weaknesses, including, for a time, alcoholism. What emerges is a story of quiet heroism, both his and Milly's, as she defies the odds and continues to prove that her will to live is greater than her despair. Kondrake also writes about the politics of research and fundraising for various diseases, and how some diseases have more cache than others, even if the disease garnering more print and air time afflicts far fewer people than other devastating ailments. This may not come as a shock to people but it is still important so that we can all do what we can to campaign to make disease research and funding more equitable.

   I was most touched by Kondrake's unsparingly honest account of his own shortcomings as a man, a husband, and father, and how Milly, and eventually, her Parkinson's disease, made him grow into a far greater man than he was before. The fact that this is a true account makes this book very significant, and more moving than any fiction could be. It's impossible not to read it without tears.




2. Reading this book was like sitting at a kitchen table and letting Mort just pour his story out over a cup of coffee (like Mort, I am a recovering drunk so we can't do it over a beer). His is a story of passion, love, commitment and clear proof that there is nothing in my life I can ever complain about again.
   
   Millie is an extraordinary woman, her struggles with life, faith and Parkinson's come alive in this real narrative. You can't help but feel her pain, and Mort's immense love and commitment to her.
   
   I have always liked Kondracke as a pundit - I am a liberal republican, he a conservative democrat. We share similar feelings about nearly every issue except who we are most likely to initially vote for in a Presidential race. His struggle to get government officials to hear his plea for funding pissed me off - and I am sure you will share his frustrations in the reading.
   
   Most critically, you will absolutely be moved by the openness, honesty and devotion in this story.



3. I had known Milly Kondracke for a quarter of a century before her death last year of Parkinson's disease. She was my mentor. Morton's memoir of their marriage is touching, well-written and a quick read.
   
   My only regret is that Morton glossed over Milly's wonderful gift as a social worker/therapist in a paragraph, for that was her career identity. Milly did her own mourning when she had to cease her private practice due to her illness. Still the book gives you a taste of her personality, one of those persons who were larger than life.
   
   "Saving Milly" achingly illustrates the struggle of a family who must care for a loved one through a long term illness and raises the question of politics, funding and ethics for those with incurable illnesses. I highly recommend this book.



4. Paperback includes both a reading guide and a compelling interview with Kondracke by his comrade, Fred Barnes. In particular, it is interesting to learn about what Kondracke wishes he had done a bit differently in telling the story. In a sense, Kondracke stands outside the story to evaluate how faithfully he told it, an extraordinary exercise.
   
   Maybe this book is less about Milly and more about "saving Milly" and what that meant: pragmatically, socially, politically, spiritually. It's a useful distinction to bear in mind. There is some background information about this brave and lovely woman, but inasmuch as the topic is an encounter with a disease she has, this is not a biography of Milly. It is a picture of sickness and its impact: not of the woman, herself.
   
   There are plenty of books about people with illness: fewer, by far, about the very flawed, though devoted, individuals who care for them. Kondracke seems no longer to flinch at the shadows of his inadequacy and pomposity, which might encourage the reader to consider a similarly brave examination of conscience. Many of us will be called to be caregivers. This is no map, but it is a clear narrative of costs, rewards, pain, and delight that bubble up in the dynamic between cared-for and caregiver.
   
   I liked the book a lot and absolutely recommend the paperback edition because of its additions.



5. Excellent book, well written. Anyone who has, or is spouse or friend of
   someone with Parkinson's should read this book. It will make you cry and then make you mad, really mad. The U.S. Government should read it and see
   how poorly funds are distributed for aid and research. It's a shame.