Monkey Mind

A Memoir of Anxiety

By: Daniel Smith

Narrated by: Richard Powers

In the insightful narrative tradition of Oliver Sacks, Monkey Mind is an uplifting, smart, and very funny memoir of life with anxiety - America’s most common psychological complaint.

We all think we know what being anxious feels like - it is the instinct that made us run from wolves in the prehistoric age and pushes us to perform in the modern one - but for forty million American adults, anxiety is an insidious condition that defines daily life. Yet no popular memoir has been written about that experience until now. Aaron Beck, the most influential doctor in modern psychotherapy, says that “Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron’s Darkness Visible did for depression.”

In Monkey Mind, Daniel Smith brilliantly articulates what it is like to live with anxiety, defanging the disease with humor, traveling through its demonic layers, evocatively expressing both its painful internal coherence and its absurdities. He also draws on its most storied sufferers to trace anxiety’s intellectual history and its influence on our time. Here, finally, comes relief and recognition to millions of people who have wanted someone to put into words what they and their loved ones feel.

Daniel B. Smith is the author of Muses, Madmen, and Prophets and a contributor to numerous publications, including the American Scholar, Atlantic, New York Times Magazine, and Slate.

©2012 Daniel Smith (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“You don’t need a Jewish mother, or a profound sweating problem, to feel Daniel Smith’s pain in Monkey Mind. His memoir treats what must be the essential ailment of our time - anxiety - and it does so with wisdom, honesty, and the kind of belly laughs that can only come from troubles transformed.” (Chad Harbach, New York Times best-selling author of The Art of Fielding)

“I don’t know Daniel Smith, but I do want to give him a hug. His book is so bracingly honest, so hilarious, so sharp, it’s clear there’s one thing he doesn’t have to be anxious about: whether or not he’s a great writer.” (A. J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author of The Year of Living Biblically)

“Daniel Smith maps the jagged contours of anxiety with such insight, humor, and compassion that the result is, oddly, calming. There are countless gems in these pages, including a fresh take on the psychopathology of chronic nail biting, an ill-fated ménage à trois - and the funniest perspiration scene since Albert Brooks’ sweaty performance in Broadcast News. Read this book. You have nothing to lose but your heart palpitations, and your Xanax habit.”(Eric Weiner, New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss

Great listen!

Wonderfully written although painfully familiar! I, unfortunately, suffer terribly from anxiety/OCD. I enjoyed listening mostly because of the lack of advice. It was like listening to a friend share similar experiences without the often misguided attempts to "help". Thank you for this spectacularly written account and for bearing your stories for others to relate to.

More weird than funny, interesting view of anxiety

The stories were really more weird than funny, and in places actually somewhat creepy. But the book offers some interesting analyses of anxiety, probably worth a listen for that, but if you're looking for "quirky and fun" look to Jenny Lawson instead.

Smart, original, charming and damned funny too

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A wonderful, witty and poignant book that I'd highly recommend. I admire the honesty and bravery of this work. It's easy to identify with Smith’s anxiety, especially in his younger years. In college, he describes his inability to be social, to make friends even with his roommate, a fellow anxiety sufferer: “We should have been up on our bunks trading pills like they were baseball cards.” There's also a memorable scene where the author, suffering for years from profuse sweating, finds a harebrained solution in the feminine hygiene aisle of CVS. It's both humorous and heartbreaking.

What did you like best about this story?

My favorite scene is when Daniel Smith’s father gives him the “Birds and the Bees” talk by playing the Meatloaf song “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” (The author, in his early teens, believes the song is about baseball.) Or maybe the scene where Smith describes his personal appearance: “The muscles that connect the head to the shoulders were, in my case, perpetually clenched – a condition that, had I weighed more than 120 pounds, might have made me look like a villain on the pro wrestling circuit playing to the crowd.” Or maybe the one where Smith loses his virginity, which his overprotective, overbearing mother calls “rape.”

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Smith’s memoir doesn’t really lend itself to a tag line, which is why I like it. Perhaps, “Monkey Mind does for anxiety what William Styron’s Darkness Visible did for depression.” However, this book is more accessible than Styron’s.

Any additional comments?

Daniel Smith is sharp and insightful without being a bore. The book’s thoughtfulness, intelligence and self-deprecating tone proves irresistible. To quote the author: “If this all sounds melodramatic, well that isn't a bad metaphor for anxiety as a kind of drama queen of the mind.”

So very glad I found this!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes.....I just gave it as a gift....It was helpful, compassionate, understanding and delightfully written. He shared honestly. Wow.

What did you like best about this story?

It wasn't a self-help book, but a dead-on detailed description of the pain and handicap anxiety causes......and the humor....very good!

Which scene was your favorite?

discovering the safety of the library......but only because favorite means "pick just one"

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

how he related to Roth....all of it....but especially in understanding & accepting his mother

Any additional comments?

Thank you Daniel Smith......just, Thank you.

Eye-opening

Any additional comments?

I have mixed feelings about this book. The first and last several chapters were captivating. In the middle, however, I wondered if I had wasted yet another credit and even considered not finishing. The problem for me was the amount of time dedicated to the author’s anxiety symptoms, which he described to exhaustion. Fortunately, I stuck with it and my tenacity was rewarded in the end.

Therefore, on the whole, I would recommend it.

By the way, “Monkey Mind” was chosen to be discussed at the “Science Friday” book club. You can download the podcast if you miss the live show on NPR.

Note to the author: Daniel, you should have done the narration. The narrator did a fine job, but this was such a personal story that it felt wrong having someone else speak it. Also, while I do not suffer from extreme anxiety, I felt the same way as you about Bdeis orientation week. It was horrible!

Hit close to home

An excellent explanation and exploration of the bouncy ball that is an anxious brain.

Reader Comments

This book is highly recommend to those who have or have overcome an anxiety disorder. Reading this will help you to see that you are not alone with your anxiety disorder.

Interesting perspective!

A very interesting perspective from someone who has a debilitating anxiety condition. If you have ever thought you suffer from anxiety, this will make you feel better about your own condition, and may help you through it.

Great book!!

I was looking for a book to help with anxiety and I found walking around my neighborhood listening to this book funny and kept pulling me in for more. so relatable and so enjoyable to listen to. I hope I can find more similar to this one.

Relatable and well-written

For those who experience anxiety, Smith’s work may feel like a return home. The book, which is very well written, is a look into the author’s past experiences with anxiety — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

This book differs from many others in the space in that it’s a memoir and not a self-help book. As such, many of the stories here are told to recount the author’s past and help the reader connect them to his or her own past experiences — not necessarily to reveal key insights.

That’s why I say it feels like a return home; anxious folks will be able to relate quite well to these stories, even if they don’t really lead too far in the end. “Ahh, yes, I know what he’s talking about. I’ve been there many times before,” I found myself saying several times throughout this one.

Though anxiety sufferers will definitely relate to the material, one thing I’m not totally sure of, however, is whether very many of them will want to revisit fear-provoking incidents without a promise of getting something out of doing so. Sure, such stories may be relatable, but is that relatability worth the potential angst? That’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

All in all, however, I enjoyed relating to Smith, and as such, give it four stars.

-Brian Sachetta
Author of “Get Out of Your Head”