A Mind Like Mine: 21 famous people and their mental health

by Rachael Davis, Islenia Mil (Illustrator)

Overview

 Mind Like Mine is a stigma-busting collection of biographies of some of the great people from history who have lived with mental health conditions.

Did you know Charles Darwin experienced anxiety and Florence Nightingale lived with PTSD? From Michelangelo to Deepika Padukone, Ada Lovelace to Freddie Flintoff, a great many successful people with brilliant minds and talents have lived or are living with mental health disorders.
 
The biographies in this book show that you can't always tell what a person is going through, and that mental health conditions can and do impact people from all walks of life. The aim of this book is to help remove some of the stigma around mental health, discuss different mental health conditions, what they mean and how they are treated; and ultimately to show that mental health disorders do not have to hold anyone back from achieving their dreams.
 
The figures featured are from a range of diverse backgrounds and disciplines across science, literature, art, music, sport, politics and popular culture. Additional feature pages will explain and explore key mental health conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety and eating disorders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780711274006
Publisher:	Wide Eyed Editions
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Rachael Davis studied Mathematics at Oxford University and then went to work in Finance. A few years later, her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Rachael developed anxiety. She found writing therapeutic, and decided life was too short not to do what you love. She left her job, did a masters in English Literature, became a full-time writer, and has never looked back. Growing up biracial, she didn’t see herself reflected in stories, and it's especially important to her that her books connect with all children. Rachael lives in Hampshire with her husband and two young daughters.
 
Islenia Mil is an Afro-Latina, NYC based illustrator specializing in conceptual problem solving and storytelling and can be easily recognized from her use engaging composition, detail lines, and vibrant color. Islenia has worked for client such as AARP and Twitter NYC.
 

Table of Contents

Michelangelo, Sir Isaac Newton, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Darwin, Ada Lovelace,
Florence Nightingale, Alfred Nobel, Vincent Van Gogh, Nikola Tesla, Marie Curie,
John Nash, Buzz Aldrin, Michelle Obama, David Chang, Andrew Flintoff, 
Serena Williams, Jameela Jamil, Deepika Padukone, Lesley Chiang, Alok Vaid-Menon, 
Greta Thunberg, 

Editorial Reviews

"This is a vital and heartfelt book that explores mental health conditions and how they are treated through the stories of figures who changed the world."—The Bookseller

"A beautifully illustrated anthology exploring the mental health stories of a diverse range of 21 famous people, both past and present, from the worlds of art, sport, music, politics and science.” —The Bookseller

“Excellent to dip into and for school libraries’ self-help sections.” —The School Librarian

From the Publisher

2022-05-11
Through profiles of 21 historical figures and contemporary celebrities who have endured challenges with mental health, Davis aims to reassure readers that mental illness is no barrier to success in life.

Tucked between entries on Ada Lovelace, Greta Thunberg, and others are “spotlights” on these mental disorders, their symptoms, and current treatments. Though the introduction notes that “people living with mental health disorders have excelled in their passions” and assures readers that “anything is possible when you put your mind to it,” that message is hard to reconcile with disturbing details (Vincent van Gogh’s suicide, John Nash’s involuntary institutionalizations) in the spare bios—most ending tragically—of historical figures. Readers learn that autism and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder might explain Michelangelo’s perfectionism and Nikola Tesla’s eccentricities. (Much of the mental health information on historical figures is largely speculative given that few of these individuals were diagnosed with mental disorders.) Accompanied by dynamic illustrations, profiles of contemporary figures read like social media success stories. The bios conflate mental health disorders requiring lifelong accommodation (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, OCD) with the mental health impacts of culturally induced racism, sexism, fatphobia, and heteronormative expectations. (David Chang’s and Greta Thunberg’s bios include both, Michelle Obama’s only the latter.) Reflecting the book’s U.K. provenance, a famous cricketer and Bollywood star are profiled; Indigenous or Latinx individuals are not. All but one of the online resources provided are health care–related websites in the U.K., and no mental health care professionals are credited.

A superficial survey enlivened with interesting historical factoids and conjectures. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews