Welcome to Litsy!

Deserves all the accolades it has received. Kolker‘s book is an impressive, compelling, & heartbreaking feat. It gives you lots to think about—genetics, the enduring stigma about mental health & its treatment, the healthcare system, what we know/understand about the brain & what we don‘t, schizophrenia, denial as a coping mechanism…I could go on…impressive job interweaving an accessible history of schizophrenia with the Galvin family‘s story.

Reading this one today…

Extremely interesting book. 6 out of 12 children with mental health disorders. The book focuses a lot on the family and the study of schizophrenia. I would have liked a bit more about the parents and their backgrounds.

#manicmonday #letterH

📚 The Hot Zone, Home, The Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy
✍️ Jane Harper, Harlan Coben, Thomas Harris (TBR)
🎥 Hereditary, Hunter Hunter, Harry Potter movies, Halloween (1978) 📺 House of the Dragon, House M.D., The Haunting of Hill House
🎸 Halestorm and Hands Like Houses
🎶 Half of Me (Yours Truly), Have Faith in Me (A Day To Remember), Hypnosis (Sleep Token), Hysteria (Spiritbox)

#AlphabetGame
#LetterH

This was an interesting look at how one family (mother, father, and 12 children) all developed schizophrenia at different stages of their lives.

All I can say is wow 4/5 ⭐️

The incredible true story of a married couple with 12 kids, 6 of whom had schizophrenia. The dynamics of this family get more and more shocking as more and more secrets are revealed.

Fascinating, disturbing, and well-researched.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Honestly - wow. A book that was so eye-opening on schizophrenia. An excellently researched, well-articulated book that is a must read for those interested in the topic.

I had not known about the Galvin family before reading this. This was quite an interesting look into how most of the Galvin‘s were showing signs or were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the toll it had on the family as the years went on.

4⭐️
5/28/22

My favorite part of flying is starting a new book!

The harrowing and mind blowing true story of a family with 12 kids, 6 with schizophrenia. This family were an important part of the journey of how schizophrenia is treated and if it develops because of nature or nurture. It‘s not just the children with schizophrenia who suffer. The other 6 children live in fear of developing the disease and feel abandoned by the parents because they are too busy with the sick kids. Heartbreaking and fascinating.

My favorite book read in August was Hidden Valley Road!
Seems like people love or hate this one. I think it was fascinating. Imagine you‘re at a party, your brain flips a switch, and you take off all your clothes and tell people you‘re Paul McCartney. The brain is so interesting to me. And to top it all off, the parents raise these kids like nobody should. Wow.

#12BooksOf2021
@Andrew65

#12Booksof2021 #2ndBookof2021 #February @Andrew65

I still remember so much from this book. It's such an informative, and heartbreaking read. One of my favorite non-fiction reads.

Rigorously researched, this decades long tale of a family with 6 sons (of 12! kids) suffering from schizophrenia and the research their genetics brought to the field, is heartbreaking and very interesting. Kolker presents it in a narrative way with all the science bits understandable by a layperson. Very rough read at times. Schizophrenia sounds absolutely terrifying to have.

This covers the story of a family where 6 of the 12 kids are schizophrenic. Honestly, this one kind of wrecked me. I knew this dealt heavily in mental illness but I don‘t know how ready I was for it.

It started off pretty slow but toward then you got a picture of how much the youngest sister really interacted with her siblings and it is so so sad.

Definitely needing a break from heavy subject matter after this one.

This was my #doublespin book

Breaking out the spiced apple cider tea I got from @Kdgordon88 to get me through my work day while I listen to my #doublespin book

I just want to live in spooky season forever with all the fall flavors.

Stopped by the library because my internet is having issues
Scored these 4 books for $1
(There's also a used library sale starting Wed I plan on visiting)
Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker
The 100-Year-Old Man..., Jonas Jonasson
We Were The Lucky Ones, Georgia Hunter
Calypso, David Sedaris

All were on my want to reads list except The 100 year old man.... not sure if I'll like that one, but for a quarter, I'll give it a shot

I forgot to post my review of this book last month!
🧠 Although reading about the family highlighted in this book was heavy at times, I was fascinated. I also found the history of studying schizophrenia in the United Stares interesting. Spoiler alert: people who don‘t believe science cause delays in helping people with this devastating mental health condition.
Most of my book club didn‘t like it as much as me, saying it was boring.
🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠

New glasses and a new book to test them out on! After several weeks of blurry nighttime vision, I thought back and realized that it's been literal years since I've seen the eye doctor. 🤦‍♀️ Really keeping up with that necessary self-care! Anyway, I've deemed these beauties my Reading Glasses and I love them. Cheers to a clear page and a fascinating story! And learn from my mistakes- don't neglect the eye doctor, folks! #CurrentlyReading

#20in4 update!
💪🏼 I‘m up to 12.5 hours (1 hour for each kid in this family)! My goal was to get to 20 but I don‘t think I‘ll make it. I still see a few more hours in my future though- this book is hard to put down! I hate to armchair parent but, no, do not raise your kids this way. (Not nominated for Parents‘ Day awards #JulyJourneys)
@Andrew65
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

Another recommendation featuring a strong mental health storyline. 12 siblings, 6 of which develop schizophrenia and how it changed the family dynamics. Told over the course of several decades the content covers the history of the family, lifestyle, diagnosis, treatments, and so forth. It's a memoir for the whole family.

Early morning sunrise means extra time for reading in bed. But first, coffee.

...we are more than just our genes. We are, in some way, a product of the people who surround us—the people we‘re forced to grow up with, and the people we choose to be with later. Our relationships can destroy us, but they can change us, too, and restore us, and without us ever seeing it happen, they define us 🧬🔬🖤

4⭐
Very well researched. Written with care and empathy which can be challenging for some writers when writing about real people and mental illness.
I appreciate Kolker's balance between the many POV of the Galvin family, the outside look into the family and the chronicling look at schizophrenia in the many fields of healthcare and research.
A unique and ultimately tragic family story. The book would make an excellent bookclub read. 👇👇👇

This book is sad…six sons with schizophrenia. Twelve children…all abused in some format.

Really enjoying this deep dive into the Galvin family, a family of twelve children, of whom 6 develop schizophrenia. (Kitty likes any book that enthralls me long enough to allow for lap naps.) #catsoflitsy

I agree with the hype on this one: fascinating, disturbing, well researched, and very well-organized and -written. If you've missed the hype: it's a nonfiction account of the Galvins, a large Colorado Springs family with 12 children, of whom 6 were diagnosed with schizophrenia. In parallel with the Galvins' story, Kolker traces the history of treatments for mental illness since the mid-20th century, and how the Galvins helped shape that.

This wasn't exactly what I thought it was but what a trip into this family and the impact schizophrenia had on them. So well documented and very, very in depth.

I also fell into the falconry rabbit hole while listening to this so that was interesting 😅

One step closer to a bingo. Still hoping to get one before the month is out!

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

#lunchandabook

This book is fascinating so far. I have a little trouble keeping all the brothers straight in my mind, but it's somehow also not confusing.

This is a very well-researched account of a family living with mental illness. It is so layered with complex experiences that any one could have been its own book.

Wow. A family with 12 kids and 6 of them are schizophrenic.

This is an unbelievable true story about the Galvin family and the progress that was made scientifically through the study of them.

On a personal note - biotech company Amgen was mentioned and I worked there for 10 years back in the day 😄

Starting this on my kindle.

Can't complain about my flight yesterday with a whole row to myself!

Starting this non-fiction account of one family‘s life with schizophrenia.

This book takes a deep look at the Galvins, a family of 12 children, 6 of which develop schizophrenia. It paints a terrifying realistic view of the disease, its effect on those around the affected, and the scientific and medical advancements made over the last 70 years, many in part due to the Galvins. The book sheds light on the hard truths and family turmoil caused by the disease and the hope for future generations.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #NonFiction2021 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, but it was well worth the read.

My grandfather had schizophrenia. I spent a lot of my childhood going with my parents to have him admitted to the hospital, or just visiting him during his stays there. For me, this book resonated a bit close to home. 💔 It is still a great read though about a terrible illness.

This was an interesting look at both the Galvin family, who had six sons diagnosed with schizophrenia or another mental illness (bipolar disorder), and the history of research into the causes, cures, and treatments for schizophrenia. It also addresses the toll that mental illness takes on a family as a whole as well as its individual members. Definitely worth reading. #Libby #Kindle

My current read! How about you? #fridayreads

Super fascinating and worth all the hype.

WOW. This story is almost too unbelievable to be true. Kolker did such a marvelous job with both the science and in displaying the Galvin family‘s humanity. It is tragic and heartbreaking but also life affirming in a way. I don‘t recommend it for pre-bed reading because my dreams were 🤯 but this is a really remarkable piece of non-fiction. 5⭐️

An incredibly well researched story about the Galvin family. Imagine 6 of your 13 children having schizophrenia!!! Here you learn about the families struggles along side the science that is forever trying to unravel the mysteries of this terrifying disease of the mind.

Well done!

Wow. Another book club pick I‘m not sure I would‘ve chosen otherwise. As a social worker I became fascinated with this book and it‘s deep look into schizophrenia. I wasn‘t expecting to learn so much. There‘s just enough family story and psychology mixed together. Book 18 or 2020

What a tragedy! I have lots of opinions about the parenting in this family, but I can't believe that poor parenting would cause 6 of 12 kids to be schizophrenic (if it did, there would be a lot more people in this world with schizophrenia). This book was fascinating - both the story of this family and the research into the causes of schizophrenia.

So interesting.