Healing: 20 Prominent Authors Write About Inspirational Moments of Regaining Health

by Lee Gutkind (Editor, Contributor), Lucy Grealy (Contributor), Carol Sanford (Contributor)

Twenty authors, including Oliver Sacks, Tracy Kidder, Diane Ackerman, and Anatole Broyard, share their thoughts and experiences on the process of physical and emotional healing from illness, loss, or addiction.

Bed, blanket, window / Carol Sanford
Mirrorings / Lucy Grealy
In praise of vanilla / Diane Ackerman
Dora rewriting Freud: desiring to heal / Raphael Campo
Misgivings / C.K. Williams
Last things / Debra Spark
A neurologist's notebook: a surgeon's life / Oliver Sacks
An unspoken art / Lee Gutkind
Falling into life / Leonard Kriegel
In memoriam / Daniel D. Baxter
Liferower / Rebecca McClanahan
Intoxicated by my illness / Anatole Broyard
The strength of bald-headed women / Susan L. Adkins
Rock / Katherine Russel Rich
Our Sunday conversation / Ron Kurtz
The incurables / Tom Sleigh
This is not a review of Shostakovich's fifth symphony / Brendan Wolfe
Night rhythms / John T. Price
Bones / Barbara Helen Berger
Old friends / Tracy Kidder

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Lee Gutkind has been recognized by Vanity Fair as “the godfather behind creative nonfiction.” A prolific writer, he has authored and edited over twenty-five books, and is the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary magazine to publish only narrative nonfiction. Gutkind has received grants, honors, and awards from numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation. A man of many talents, Gutkind has been a motorcyclist, medical insider, sports expert, sailor, and college professor. He is currently distinguished writer in residence in the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University and a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Reviews

[Kricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book is "20 prominent authors write about inspirational moments of regaining health." I would edit it to say "20 prominent authors write essays vaguely connected to illness in some way that may or may not involve healing but hopefully involve someone feeling sort of ok about things eventually" but potato potahto. This was a random grab from the stacks. A friend recently asked me for suggestions of hopeful/funny books about living with chronic illness, ideally where no one dies, and these are proving surprisingly difficult to find. This one is a mixed bag. (How I always describe collections of short stories/essays with different contributors, but what else could it be?)

Some favorites:
-Lucy Grealy's "Mirrorings"
-Katherine Russel Rich's "Rock" which I liked so much I'm trying to track down her other books.

[Erika Jhanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kung naghahanap ka ng guide, tips and inspiration sa pagsusulat lalo na ng non-fiction, maganda ito. Iba't iba ang styles at atake ng mga essays / short story pero lahat ay epektibo. Malakas maka squeeze ng "creative juice". :)

[Lynda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book.