When You're Falling, DiveWhen You're Falling, Dive
How people who have suffered trauma find an upside when they've gone to the brink—and back again.
Do survivors of life's greatest trials possess a secret knowledge? Is there an art to survival—a map for crossing the wilderness—or daily life? Why do some people blossom through adversity while others stop growing? Drawing on twenty years' experience in this field, using stories, parable, and scientific data, acclaimed memoirist Mark Matousek gives the first-ever comprehensive look at this mysterious phenomenon of viriditas, the power of drawing passion, beauty, and wisdom from the unlikeliest places. Matousek interviews hundreds of well-known survivors—including Joan Didion, Elie Wiesel, and Isabel Allende—and experts such as Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jonathan Kozol, and Sogyal Rimpoche. He includes extraordinary testimonials, from a Tibetan nun imprisoned by the Chinese at age eleven and the women of Calama, Chile, digging for their "disappeared," among countless others. Drawing insight and advice from these many heroic individuals, Matousek presents a chorus of wisdom for how to survive our own lives—the vicissitudes of being human—and prevail.
Draws on case stories, scientific data, and parables to counsel readers on how to survive and thrive after painful setbacks, in a guide that evaluates why some people rebound after trauma and how famous survivors have developed an ability to draw passion and wisdom from unlikely sources. By the author of The Boy He Left Behind. 30,000 first printing.
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- New York : Bloomsbury USA : distributed to the trade by Macmillan, 2008.
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