Product Description

The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers and musicians. Kay Jamison's work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness. Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease and applies what is known about the illness to the lives and works of some of the world's greatest artists including Byron, Van Gogh, Schumann and Woolf.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44978 in Books
• Published on: 1996-12-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

beautiful
kay jamison is not only an excellent writer and psychologist but she also knows personally the pain of mental disease. maybe this is the reason why she writes with such enthusiasm and warmth about bipolar writers, poets, musicians and other artists and it seems she is saying to us who struggle with manicdepression that there is something precious inside all of us even though we may never be world class artists. touched with fire is one of the books i always come back to since i find its message comforting. madness is pain but it is also a very strange gift.

An insight into some amazing minds
This is an amazing book. I hadn't realised how many artists or all genre had manic depression.

Yes the type is a tad small which made me have to really concentrate to read it but I found myself enjoying my journeys to work as I went through it. Even now it is lovely to dip into and become inspired.

It is defintiely worth reading if you want to see another side of artists and it certainly doesn't excuse anything they have done.

I wish I could read this
This is a book I really want to read, the content looks to me to be very intriguing. The problem is the print, both the size and the set up on the page. I read alot and can manage with many different type sets, but unfortunately not this one. Hopefully, maybe ...audiobook?