Books for Connection

A Brief History of Anxiety…Yours and Mine tells the story of a person who learned to move through her anxiety and discover new connections as she stopped taking antidepressants. Patricia Pearson does a masterful job at describing the struggle to discover and re-connect not only with what she valued, but also with the physical world around her. As Pearson tells her story, the reader also learns about the broader and sometimes comical history of human anxiety. This combination of personal and historical provides a useful perspective.

Part self-help, part memoir, and part investigative journalism, Lost Connections redefines depression as grief for something that is missing or lost. Johann Hari focuses on the basic relationship between good mental health and a good social life within one’s various communities–family, school, work, neighborhood. He digs into the clinical trials that informed the creation of anti-depressants and the underground world of social scientists who have disagreed with the setup and outcome of these trials. The author argues for not always thinking that depression and anxiety are purely chemical imbalances in the brain that can only be addressed with expensive and ever-higher doses of prescription drugs.

If you need tips on how to be immersed and connected to an urban setting, The Odd Woman and the City is the book for you! Vivian Gornick details her daily walks within and throughout New York City where she never feels alone. Conversation is key for the author, but she’s also not always talking with people. Sometimes she simply listens and observes. If you look closely, the book cover backdrop is that of a sidewalk.