Issue Date: May 20, 2007
5 books that heal
Self-help experts prescribe a handful of classics to comfort and inspire.
By Evelyn S. Poitevent
When it comes to coping with a serious illness or just facing the inevitable, there's no shortage of good books to turn to for advice. Alas, the same can be said for mumbo-jumbo-filled tomes. With so many self-help titles and inspirational memoirs flooding the market, where does one begin to find a useful one? Experts in the field suggest that there's no better place to start than the tried-and-true classics.
"I'm always admitting I have nothing new to say," declares Bernie Siegel, M.D., who nevertheless has written nine books, including the best-selling "Love, Medicine & Miracles: Lessons Learned About Self-Healing From a Surgeon's Experience With Exceptional Patients." "Every book ever written is a self-help book. What's the Bible? What about Buddha? Each generation thinks somebody new is starting the process, but we keep repeating the wisdom of the sages and ages."
With that in mind, USA WEEKEND enlisted Siegel, along with Mary Ann Brussat, co-author of "Spiritual Literacy: Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life" and co-creator of spiritualityandpractice.com, to identify the self-help classics that have inspired legions -- and will continue to do so for years to come.
1. "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient"
by Norman Cousins
(W.W. Norton & Company, $13.95)
Originally published in 1979, this book details how Cousins, who was a longtime "Saturday Review" editor, "laughed his way out of" a crippling disease with the aid of Marx Brothers' films. "It's the classic self-help and illness book, one that has had a long-term impact on our culture, as it really jump-started the whole mind-body connection," Brussat says.
2. "Man's Search for Meaning"
by Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. (Beacon Press, $12)
"Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering," writes Frankl in this 1959 memoir that chronicles his years at Auschwitz as well as three other Nazi concentration camps. Considered to be one of the world's most important psychiatrists since Sigmund Freud, Frankl shares the coping mechanisms he developed, highlighting man's innate ability to overcome trauma and find new meaning in life. "Acting out of love saved [Frankl]. Deciding to write a book about it gave him meaning," Siegel says.
3. "On Death and Dying"
by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (Scribner, $14.95)
Written in the late '60s, this seminal work introduced the universally accepted five stages of dealing with death: denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Kübler-Ross also sheds light on how the last days of life can affect the dying, their caretakers and their loved ones. "This book is about helping people through that final transition, so they can die surrounded by loved ones, so they can die laughing," Siegel says.
4. "The Power of Positive Thinking"
by Norman Vincent Peale (Fireside, $21.95)
"His books are timeless," Siegel says. "I'm re-reading them 30, 40, 50 years later." Aimed at boosting self-esteem and personal fulfillment, this 1952 bestseller, now translated into 42 languages, includes numerous anecdotes demonstrating Peale's belief that "faith in yourself makes good things happen to you," a key element in overcoming, or peacefully coexisting with, a serious illness.
5. "Telling Secrets"
by Frederick Buechner (HarperSanFrancisco, $13.95)
A Presbyterian minister and well-known spiritual memoirist, Buechner uses the text of his own life -- including his father's suicide and his daughter's anorexia -- to address the dysfunctional family tendency to suppress painful shared experiences. The focus of this 1991 book "is the idea of healing as embracing the whole of your history, all of the shadows and secrets," Brussat says. "Dealing with all of your issues is what the spiritual journey is about."
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The next classics
Intimate stories with universal appeal: Reserve a spot on your bookshelf for these moving memoirs from recent years.
Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness by Richard Cohen (HarperCollins, $13.95)
This former journalist who is married to Meredith Vieira details his ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis and the physical and emotional challenges it poses.
Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp (Dell, $14.95)
An unflinching chronicle of the author's 20-year tumultuous relationship with the bottle and her decision to finally call it quits -- and check into rehab.
An Unquiet mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison (Vintage, $13.95)
The ultimate insider's view: This renowned professor of psychiatry shares her struggle with and triumph over manic depression.
A Whole New Life by Reynolds Price (Scribner, $14)
An uplifting story of how the award-winning novelist and poet recovered from spinal cancer and came to accept -- and thrive in -- his new life as a paraplegic.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Vintage, $13.95)
This 2005 National Book Award-winner depicts the year after the sudden death of the author's husband of 40 years, fellow writer John Gregory Dunne, as their only child was in a coma.
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