پنج چیز که باید در مورد این کتاب بدانید

five things to know about this book 1.

I’m not a medical professional. This is my personal and creative response to my condition and the research around it. But I also had three medical professionals read the book to ensure the information is responsible.

2.

I’ve put an octopus on the cover because they are beasts that have been made more beautiful through our deeper understanding of them. Their intelligence and sentience is hard to fathom. They are driven by 500 million neurons and have a deep desire to connect and communicate with humans.

3.

The scientific claims are supported as endnotes that can be found at sarahwilson.com. I acknowledge that the science in this realm is often imprecise and conflicting.

4.

The format of the book is nomadic in nature. It meanders through disciplines and between polemic, didactic and memoir. Because this best reflects how I’ve experienced my own journey through the issue.

5.

The title is derived from a Chinese proverb which I came across twenty years ago in psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison’s memoir An Unquiet Mind.

THE WORM’S WAKING

This is how a human being can change.

There is a worm

addicted to eating grape leaves.

Suddenly, he wakes up,

call it grace, whatever, something wakes him, and he is no longer a worm.

He is the entire vineyard,

and the orchard too, the fruit, the trunks, a growing wisdom and joy

that does not need to devour.

— Rumi