The Science of Hope

Both of these books reminded me how many things are going right most of the seconds that I breathe and walk and exist. Up is up, down is down, my mind is not attacking itself, and gravity is as consistent as taxes. There is some heavy subject matter in here, but both are surprisingly uplifting, and map back to the same conclusion–human connection is probably our purpose and salvation.

Content Warning: This post discusses sensitive topics, including suicide. Please take care while reading and skip this one if now isn't the right time for you.

Project Hail Mary

A total gas! Have the reviewers used that one yet? I was shocked that Andy Weir is a computer scientist. I thought he had to be an astronomer or a microbiologist for me to enjoy learning about atmospheric gas this much. Another lesson in not defining people by their occupations. In the book's acknowledgements, he thanks some heavy hitters in several fields for making the science science. I guess that's the thing about a wordsmith–with the right friends and hobbies, they can make the science art.

An Unquiet Mind

One of the nation's leading experts on bipolar disorder, on her own experiences with bipolar disorder. What should only hope to be dry and clinical, with the human moments sinking to despair, is somehow... inspirational?

Dr. Jamison is the Katniss Everdeen of bipolar disorder. She didn't volunteer to inherit it, but she deliberately ran the gauntlet, analyzing some of the worst periods of her life, to get this book into our hands. I can barely journal when I'm regular sad. She somehow sublimated years of pain through the instrument that caused it–her stupendously well-trained mind–into a meditation on the grace of human connection.

Describing one of her low points, she says, "When the telephone rang I must have instinctively thought to answer it; thus I crawled, semi-comatose, to the telephone in the living room. My slurred voice alerted my brother, who was calling from Paris to see how I was doing. He immediately called my psychiatrist." Her relationship with her brother saved her from overdosing on lithium in the immediate sense here, but she also credits her secure childhood, loving mother, devoted brother, and caring friends with delaying the onset and reducing the frequency of her suicide attempts. Her relationships were as important as her medicine in saving her life.

I realize that particular quote isn't doing a lot to make this seem like a hopeful book. And if you're in a delicate phase of life, maybe this is one to save for later. I also don't mean to insinuate that anyone is not doing enough if they don't use their experiences for science. Like I said, I rarely even force myself to journal on a non-clinical bad day. But since Dr. Jamison already made this book exist, if you can swing reading it at some point, it will be worth it.