My brother and I went in to buy Hidden Valley Roads, which is a book about a family afflicted by schizophrenia. Six out of 12 children in this family got schizophrenia, and it’s about the research done about this family, as well as being a family story. It just came out last month, so its pretty new.
Anyway, after I read it I will give my review of the book and any additional thoughts. It was actually relatively cheap considering it just came out.
Will you post in this thread? I bookmarked it.
Yeah, I’ll post it in this thread. I might even give updates throughout the book.
I really want to know about this.
I was also excited about this book. And I understand others are too, so I’ll post updates on it.
I’ve had that book on my Amazon e-book wish list since early April, waiting for the price to come down. Still waiting…
yeah @John_Raven…keep us posted on the book…im interested…maybe post as you read each chapter so i can get the gist of it…if thats not too much hassle…i’ll bookmark this post
Sounds like a very interesting read. 
Please keep us posted.
I’m only in chapter 5 so far, but its already been pretty interesting. It’s written as a personal history of the family, but also as a book about schizophrenia itself.
I’ve learned in this book about a theory of schizophrenia that was common in America. So, after some doctors wanted to perform eugenics on schizophrenics, there came another theory that was more based in the nurture argument. They would place blame solely on the mother for the child schizophrenia, and later on many other mental illnesses. It was thought that the patient would get schizophrenia because the mother was being manipulative and trapping her child in tricks. The mother was called “schizophrenogenic”. And I can only imagine what’s next in the book.
I’m now past page 200 and I can honestly say that I haven’t been this engaged in a book for a while.
It details how each brother that got the illness got it, and also how it affects their family life. It also goes through the research of schizophrenia in both the past and present. Each brother manifests the illness differently and has a different severity.
And if you are struggling a lot, I wouldn’t recommend this book just yet because it details some symptoms of the brothers. And also, as a disclaimer, this book talks about some child molestation done by one of the brothers, so just be prepared to be a little sad.
I have a great book too! surviving schizophrenia by E.Fuller Torrey and I Deff recommend if you’re looking for more info !
I had read My Mysterious Son: A Life Changing Passage Between Schizophrenia and Shamanism by Dick Russell.
thanks for keping us posted @John_Raven
Most schizophrenia books amount to “it’s tragic that they never recovered” or “my life was total hell until I found the right drug”. My book is “my life was total Hell until I found the right drug but I went back to Hell as a result of the weight gain since I never could get off of it”.
Well, I finished it and I give the book a 4.5/5.
This book was great. It went through the history of schizophrenia research from the 19th century all the way to present day. It also gave an account of a family plagued by schizophrenia. My only criticism is that the author didn’t really mention negative symptoms, and sometimes it was almost too depressing, but I forgive him for that, as he really couldn’t control it. I highly recommend this book to individuals that are stable enough to read it. It was even sometimes hard to read for me when the author talked about some of the child abuse that happened, or the murder-suicide that took place. But regardless, this still is a very good, researched book that I recommend to anyone interested in schizophrenia. I’m just so grateful for being born in this era of medicine.
thanks john for keeping us updated…i’ll look into ordering it on amazon
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