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There are currently 42 member reviews
for He Wanted the Moon
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Jan M. (Broken Arrow, OK)
Disturbing Reality
This was a hard book to read, not because of the writing, but because of the subject matter. It was hurtful to visualize the inhuman treatment the good Doctor was subjected to. How could such practices be called "treatment", it seemed more like torture to me.
For the life of me I cannot imagine what good they thought would occur from binding patients with icy sheets. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for the normally brilliant Dr. Baird to have been treated in such a manner. I appreciate his dedication in recording the events and his thoughts, feelings and observations. His daughter did a good job in bringing order to his journals and papers and in sharing both Dr. Baird's and her own journeys in understanding. The way his writings were printed in a type face different than her own observations was especially helpful to this reader. This was not an entertaining book, but certainly an enlightening one. I applaud Ms. Baird's quest to know her father and her willingness to share those findings. The book is too depressing to recommend to my Book Club, although I'm sure it would generate lots of discussion. I will however, be sharing my copy with some of my reader friends who will, as I was, be grateful that our treatment of the mentally ill has improved.
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Kay K. (Oshkosh, WI)
Better title: Lost on the Moon
He wanted the Moon was both disturbing and intriguing. Dr. Baird endured so much, and that he may have been so close to his own possible treatment was devastating. His own personal account of his ordeal puts the reader right into the mental hospital. A reader couldn't get closer to the experience except by actually being there. The fact that the autobiographical account was also partnered with his daughter's loss and unique commentary strengthened Dr. Baird's story. I found this story sad, but real. It was I story that had to be told and I felt privileged to have been able to be witness to it. I have already passed it on to another reader. It is the kind of story that should be heard.
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Valerie C. (Chico, CA)
Insightful and Sad
This was an important book for me. I grew up with a family member with bipolar disorder, and experienced what the author's father experienced from the outside looking in. Behaviors during episodes were frightening and confusing. I found this book both insightful and horrifying. I often wondered what it was like for my family member. Now I know. While our medical and societal treatment of mental health disorders have improved since the 1940s, they still have a long way to go.
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Sylvia G. (Scottsdale, AZ)
Compelling true story
An intense portrait of what it's like to be bipolar in a world before psychiatric medications, the book takes actual accounts from the author's father who suffered from mental illness and was hospitalized 1944. The structure is a little odd,moving between the author's notes and her fathers medical records and his writings sometimes in a rather clunky way. However, I found it to be a compelling story that had an immediacy and I was interested in his experience and was glad to see how far we've come from the rather barbaric treatment of mental illness in just 40 to 50 years. I recommend it to anyone interested in a first hand account of what it is like to be bipolar.
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Lori K. (Palm Harbor, FL)
This Multi-Faceted Story Would be a Good Book Club Pick
Having had a family history rampant with mental health issues myself, I was especially interested in reading about the perceptions of bipolar disorder both from the person who has lived with it, and from the points of view of others who loved, couldn't tolerate, and/or treated Dr. Perry Baird. Mimi Baird did a great job in presenting Perry Baird's accounts of his stays at several different mental hospitals, especially gripping because he was trying to study himself in the process during a time when treatments were barbaric at best. His writings are interspersed with inpatient treatment notes from the hospitals where he had been confined. These different accounts made me curious- his being colored by his disease, and the hospitals perhaps colored by agenda. I suppose that the truth lies somewhere in between, which I believe was what the author was ferreting out.
I know firsthand about the extreme difficulty of living with a family member who has a serious mental illness, and could relate to those who cared about Dr. Baird, but who also became unable to cope with the destruction left in his path. It is a sad, complicated, and real problem that families face, and the author did a marvelous job of integrating all of these facets into a short and highly readable book. There are many good discussion points in He Wanted the Moon, which would make it an excellent book club pick.
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Marjorie H. (Woodstock, GA)
Amazing Journey
Depression is a killing disease and manic-depressives swing between full on living and the edge of death. Dr. Perry Baird was fortunate (if that's the right word) to be able to identify his illness to the point that he could write about it. This is an amazing journey into the mind of a man who catalogued his actions and thoughts through both spectrums. How he writes about his impressions of his actions and how he is viewed by others and the medical profession is a study of a man losing his grip. I didn't think I would like this book, but the story is gripping and sad. Dr. Baird's daughter, Mimi, has given us an account of a man struggling with his life. If you know someone who is manic-depressive this book may be too much for you. To get a glimpse into a mind and soul on the edge, this is a fascinating read.
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Carol F. (Lake Linden, MI)
Didn't think I'd like it....
I was sure I would not really enjoy reading this book but chose it as "something different". How wrong I was! Once I started reading I couldn't put this book down. You become enveloped in Dr.Baird's plight as a patient with a medical background who knows that the treatment he is receiving for his manic depression is not helping him manage his condition. Even his writing during his manic phases keeps you oddly engrossed. I would have given this book a 5 but did not totally enjoy the daughter's writing as it was a bit drawn out at the end and seemed to focus on how we should feel sympathy for her.
