The recent death of Levon Helm, which saddens me to no end — he was, as Bob Dylan says, a great spirit — seems a good opportunity to revive our Anxiety Jukebox feature with one of The Band’s most beautiful songs, “Stage Fright.” Levon doesn’t sing, with that tragic nasal twang he had, on this one; he’s playing drums. But he’s playing them with his customary brilliance. And hell, it’s a great tune.
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Daniel Smith (DSM-IV-TR 300.02: Generalized Anxiety Disorder) is an author, journalist, and editor.
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“I read Monkey Mind with admiration for its bravery and clarity. Daniel Smith’s
anxiety is matched by a wonderful sense of the comic, and it is this which makes Monkey Mind not only a dark, pain-filled
book but a hilariously funny one, too. I broke out into explosive laughter again and again.”
—Oliver Sacks, bestselling author of The Mind’s Eye and Musicophilia
“Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron’s Darkness Visible did for depression.”
—Aaron T. Beck, father of cognitive therapy
“I don’t know Daniel Smith, but I do want to give him a hug. His book is so bracingly honest, so hilarious, so sharp, it’s clear there’s one thing he doesn’t have to be anxious about: Whether or not he’s a great writer.”
—A.J. Jacobs, author of Drop Dead Healthy and The Year of Living Biblically
“You don’t need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith’s pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time — anxiety — and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed.”
—Chad Harbach, author of The Art of Fielding
“Daniel Smith has written a wise, funny book, a great mix of startling memoir and fascinating medical and literary history, all of it delivered with humor and a true generosity of spirit. I only got anxious in the last part, when I worried the book would end. Of course, it did, but Smith’s hopeful last chapters helped me cope.”
—Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land and The Ask
“As a fellow sufferer, I balked at reading Monkey Mind, fearful that a book about anxiety might send me over the edge. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor, and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psychopathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage a trois—and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks’ sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit.”
—Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss and Man Seeks God - More about the book
CATEGORIES
I’m currently listening to you on Radio Times on WHYY. I appreciate the therapy-like honesty with which you are chronicling your anxiety issues. I personally have always suffered from anxiety. I’d done brief stints of therapy – now many years ago – trying to address…to figure out…what was going on in my head. Stage freight (among other anxiety-related issues) has always plagued me. I’ve settled into a controlled co-exitence. Aging helps mellow things a bit.
In reading your blog and coming across your post about Levon Helm, and The Band’s homage to the notion of stage freight, I just wanted to write and thank you for your glaringly honest accounting of a life lived…anxiously. That song always resonated with me, because I felt it so intensely. [I, too, mourn the loss of Levon Helm...a guy who brought an amazing and seemingly heart-felt emotion to his music.]
By the way, Jews don’t have a monopoly on anxiety….I could give anyone a run for their money.
Take care, and thanks for the book. I’ll read it with interest…
Rob Taylor