Stop Paddling/Start Sailing: A journey and some ideas
by Roger Smith
Category: Body, Mind & Spirit

This book is unusual with its mix of story and logical advice. Parts of Roger's life are told as a short fantasy, then expanded to reveal experiences, events and interactions in and out of mental health centres. He is diagnosed as suffering from Manic Depression (MD), which perhaps surprisingly allows him to make sense of his life. Roger utilises knowledge of memes together with self-help tools to manage MD with respect to his career and family life. By omitting most detail of manic and depressive episodes, the book is made compact and something that can be read repeatedly to fully appreciate that the world really can be seen in a very different way. Although primarily of interest to those involved with mental health issues (sufferers, carers & health professionals), people with no direct connection with mental health have related with many of the book's ideas.