Blue Dreams: The Science and the Story of the Drugs that Changed Our Minds Audiobook

Quotes

• “Betsy Foldes-Meiman’s clear, down-to-earth narration complements the author’s personal approach to her subject, which brings to bear her professional background in the field of psychology and her personal mental history…The well-paced narration aids the listener in following the myriad historical events and scientific details. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”

  — AudioFile

• “In this gonzo examination of the messy history and brave future of psychotropic drugs, writer and psychologist Slater sifts through the remedies one in five Americans relies on but knows little about—even breaking into an abandoned asylum in her quest.”

  — O, The Oprah Magazine

• “A capacious and rigorous history of psychopharmacology…The real strength of this book comes from Slater’s very particular position. She is patient and psychologist…Blue Dreams, like all good histories of medicine, reveals healing to be art as much as science. Slater doesn’t demonize the imperfect remedies of the past or present—even as she describes their costs with blunt severity.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “Slater…vividly details her own mental breakdown with bracing candor…Slater’s book providers a useful entry point for these patients and their families and fills in many of the gaps that doctors fail to address in the course of a routine consultation—and she does so with uncommon honesty. "

  — USA Today

• Striking . . . Slater, a writer and psychologist, takes a skeptical yet compassionate approach to the history of psychopharmacology, one shaped by her own experience as a patient . . . Blue Dreams is a vivid and thought-provoking synthesis.

  — Lidija Haas, Harper's

• Poignant and lyrical...Slater's experience makes her a convincing travel guide into the history, creation and future of psychotropics.

  — Maggie Jones, New York Times Book Review

• In this gonzo examination of the messy history and brave future of psychotropic drugs, writer and psychologist Slater sifts through the remedies one in five Americans relies on but knows little about--even breaking into an abandoned asylum in her quest.

  — Natalie Beach, O Magazine

• Ambitious...Slater understands neuroscience in far greater detail than the average patient. This allows her to bounce between first-person narrative and historical survey... Her depictions of madness are terrifying and fascinating--she vividly details her own mental breakdown with bracing candor--and she brings something new to a well-worn genre...Blue Dreams provides a useful entry point for patients with mental illness and their families, and fills in many of the gaps that doctors fail to address in the course of a routine consultation--and does so with uncommon honesty.

  — Matt McCarthy, USA Today

• Slater has taken many psychiatric drugs over thirty-five years, and in this engagingly personal book, she explores the success and the side effects they engender.

  — Tom Beer, Newsday

• Slater suggests that it's tempting--but wrong--to think of modern medicine as a system of elegant cures that have replaced the crude treatments of the past. In psychiatry, she says, the latest techniques aren't necessarily better than the older ones.

  — JM Olejarz, Harvard Business Review

• With the experience of a patient, the heart of a storyteller, and the lens of a scientist, Lauren Slater chronicles the evolving, perplexing relationship between the physical and the mental.

  — David Eagleman , New York Times bestselling author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of theBrain and host of PBS's The Brain

• A profound and essential look at a phenomenon of our times. Meticulously researched, Blue Dreams is also a deeply moving personal investigation into the drugs so many of us rely upon for our survival. Lauren Slater is much more than a trusted guide: she's a brave and eloquent companion who doesn't shy away from controversy. You'll be talking and thinking about Blue Dreams long after you've read it.

  — Terri Cheney, New York Times bestselling author of Manic

• Thought-provoking...Enlightening...In this ambitious undertaking, Slater applies vigorous research and intimate reflection to the issues involved with treating mental suffering...Ultimately, the author finds great hope...A highly compelling assessment of the role of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of mental-health issues.

  — Kirkus Reviews

• Weaving together the history of psychopharmacology and her personal experience as a patient, Slater offers readers a candid and compelling glimpse at life on psychiatric drugs and the science behind them . . . Intriguing and instructive.

  — Tony Miksanek, Booklist

• Slater offers many insights here, and her moving personal story truly illuminates the triumphs and shortcomings of psychotropic drugs.

  — Publishers Weekly

• Mixing memoir, history, and medical reporting, she brings a deep appreciation of all the hope that has gone into these drugs, both among those who make them and those who take them.

  — Ben Kafka, Bookforum

• Slater is more poet than narrator, more philosopher than psychologist, more artist than doctor . . . Every page brims with beautifully rendered images of thoughts, feelings, emotional states.

  — SanFrancisco Chronicle

• Brutally honest and brave . . . Slater reminds us that a writer's true gift--and power--lies in the ability to generously turn what seems like a specific experience into a universal one.

  — EntertainmentWeekly

• The closest thing we have to a doyenne of psychiatric disorder.

  — Village Voice

• The beauty of Lauren Slater's prose is shocking . . . Slater's vision is, ultimately, one of unity and possibility.

  — ClaireMessud, Newsday

• Smart, charming, iconoclastic, and inquisitive.

  — Peter Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac

• Engaging, provocative, and even fun.

  — NewEngland Journal of Medicine