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endpaper's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe too heavy on the anecdotal, attempting, I'm guessing, in following the Gladwellian tradition, an interesting book none the less that probably could have been cut by a third in the interest of brevity and trusting one's audience to get the point after a few examples instead of twelve.
rbogue's review against another edition
One of the common challenges with those who are embroiled in mental suffering is that they feel stuck. It’s almost as if their suffering has caught them in a net, and they can’t find their way out. Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering is focused on that idea – that people are caught by their mental suffering. No matter which path they’ve been walking, somewhere along the line, they’ve stepped into a trap – and they’re struggling to free themselves from it. Some are able to get free with support from medications and therapies, but some seem to be perpetually stuck.
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maxstone98's review
2.0
On my copy of the book the subtitle is "Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering". This is false, not just in the sense that the author tried and (in my view) failed to achieve his goal, but the book doesn't even attempt to do that.
This book is solely:
-presenting the age-old and common notion that the mind sometimes gets fixated on things in ways that are negative and hard to escape from (depression, OCD, addiction, etc) as if it were some original theory called "capture" (3% of book)
-canned history of field of psychology (20% of book)
-dozens of vignettes (2-10 pages mostly, although David Foster Wallace gets more like 30-40 pages) of mostly famous people who had mental health problems (77% of book)
And there's not even really much of attempt to relate those parts to each other. There is zero insight into the mystery of mental suffering. It's hard to even explain how weird it is that many of the vignettes have very little relationship to the theme of the book (beyond that they are about people who suffered).
On the positive side, a bunch of vignettes of of mostly famous people with mental health issues is not a bad read, I learned a few interesting things about those people that I hadn't known before. And I was actively interested in learning more about David Foster Wallace (which is why I slogged my way through the book even after it was clear that it was pretty disappointing).
My mistake, I should have gone to goodreads before plunging into this book, the top couple of reviews have nearly exactly the same view as I express above. I was led astray by randomly picking up a book that on the random pages I opened to discussed DFW (interesting to me, as noted), Ted Kaczynski (interesting to me) and had very positive jacket blurbs from Andrew Solomon, EO Wilson, and Tracy Kidder, all authors I respect. Live and learn, I guess.
Additionally annoying is that the endnotes are nearly 50% the length of the main portion of the book (120 pages vs. 250 pages). This is just someone trying to make a statement that they did a lot of homework and are really educated, and way beyond what one would produce if one were just trying to show what one's sources were.
This book is solely:
-presenting the age-old and common notion that the mind sometimes gets fixated on things in ways that are negative and hard to escape from (depression, OCD, addiction, etc) as if it were some original theory called "capture" (3% of book)
-canned history of field of psychology (20% of book)
-dozens of vignettes (2-10 pages mostly, although David Foster Wallace gets more like 30-40 pages) of mostly famous people who had mental health problems (77% of book)
And there's not even really much of attempt to relate those parts to each other. There is zero insight into the mystery of mental suffering. It's hard to even explain how weird it is that many of the vignettes have very little relationship to the theme of the book (beyond that they are about people who suffered).
On the positive side, a bunch of vignettes of of mostly famous people with mental health issues is not a bad read, I learned a few interesting things about those people that I hadn't known before. And I was actively interested in learning more about David Foster Wallace (which is why I slogged my way through the book even after it was clear that it was pretty disappointing).
My mistake, I should have gone to goodreads before plunging into this book, the top couple of reviews have nearly exactly the same view as I express above. I was led astray by randomly picking up a book that on the random pages I opened to discussed DFW (interesting to me, as noted), Ted Kaczynski (interesting to me) and had very positive jacket blurbs from Andrew Solomon, EO Wilson, and Tracy Kidder, all authors I respect. Live and learn, I guess.
Additionally annoying is that the endnotes are nearly 50% the length of the main portion of the book (120 pages vs. 250 pages). This is just someone trying to make a statement that they did a lot of homework and are really educated, and way beyond what one would produce if one were just trying to show what one's sources were.
mesy_mark's review against another edition
2.0
This book I listened to through an audio book. And although it was easy t get through iy wasn't a pleasing read. This book was a series of story after story of hardship and ache and pain that seem to always end bad or uncompleted. Some though suicide, which in the beginning of the book I thought was cool because I thought it would get into different ways of over coming that pain, But instead it was just more stories of individuals that had to go through mental distress. And it wasn't like the stories were bad it just got to a point where you wanted more than stories, you wanted to get to a point where you wanted to say, "Gee, won't I get to some how to fix these distressing times?" But like I said, that never really happens. So in short 2/5 stars for ability to get through the text (at least through audio book I don't know if I would have DNF-ed it if I read it through text) and interesting stories but lacking stars for lack of how o get through these hard times
deepfreezebatman's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating. Kessler explores how our minds become captured, leading to obsession, addiction, anxiety, etc. These are ideas I've been exploring myself lately and I was impressed with some of Kessler's arguments. I think this is a book I will need to revisit. There is a lot to take in and many ideas to meditate on.
kelly_e's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Title: Capture: Unraveling the Mystery of Mental Suffering
Author: David A. Kessler
Genre: Non Fiction Psychology
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: September 15, 2015
T H R E E • W O R D S
Informative • Contemplative • Lengthy
📖 S Y N O P S I S
In Capture, Dr. Kessler considers some of the most profound questions we face as human beings: What are the origins of mental afflictions, from everyday unhappiness to addiction and depression—and how are they connected? Where does healing and transcendence fit into this realm of emotional experience?
Analyzing an array of insights from psychology, medicine, neuroscience, literature, philosophy, and theology, Dr. Kessler deconstructs centuries of thinking, examining the central role of capture in mental illness and questioning traditional labels that have obscured our understanding of it. With a new basis for understanding the phenomenon of capture, he explores the concept through the emotionally resonant stories of both well-known and un-known people caught in its throes.
💭 T H O U G H T S
As a psychology graduate, the concept of mental suffering and mental illness has always been an interest of mine. Capture came to my awareness after being introduced some of Dr. Kessler's more recent works on grief, and I decided I wanted to give it a go.
While there are definitely some interesting antecedents, the critical exploration of the mind is quite wordy and really takes times to process everything you're reading. It isn't light reading and quite dense with scientific fact and philosophy. It's quite lengthy, and in my opinion the first chapter explains the concept of 'Capture' and the rest of the book is in depth and little clunky to get through.
At the end of the day, I learned a fair amount. However, I was anticipating something a little less dry and scientific. Something more accessible and readable. I wouldn't recommend that to the casual reader unless you really have an interest in the topic.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• anyone interested in the topic of suffering
Author: David A. Kessler
Genre: Non Fiction Psychology
Rating: 3.75
Pub Date: September 15, 2015
T H R E E • W O R D S
Informative • Contemplative • Lengthy
📖 S Y N O P S I S
In Capture, Dr. Kessler considers some of the most profound questions we face as human beings: What are the origins of mental afflictions, from everyday unhappiness to addiction and depression—and how are they connected? Where does healing and transcendence fit into this realm of emotional experience?
Analyzing an array of insights from psychology, medicine, neuroscience, literature, philosophy, and theology, Dr. Kessler deconstructs centuries of thinking, examining the central role of capture in mental illness and questioning traditional labels that have obscured our understanding of it. With a new basis for understanding the phenomenon of capture, he explores the concept through the emotionally resonant stories of both well-known and un-known people caught in its throes.
💭 T H O U G H T S
As a psychology graduate, the concept of mental suffering and mental illness has always been an interest of mine. Capture came to my awareness after being introduced some of Dr. Kessler's more recent works on grief, and I decided I wanted to give it a go.
While there are definitely some interesting antecedents, the critical exploration of the mind is quite wordy and really takes times to process everything you're reading. It isn't light reading and quite dense with scientific fact and philosophy. It's quite lengthy, and in my opinion the first chapter explains the concept of 'Capture' and the rest of the book is in depth and little clunky to get through.
At the end of the day, I learned a fair amount. However, I was anticipating something a little less dry and scientific. Something more accessible and readable. I wouldn't recommend that to the casual reader unless you really have an interest in the topic.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• anyone interested in the topic of suffering
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, Eating disorder, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and War
danielless's review
3.0
It's like a bunch of anecdotes surrounding mental suffering, interesting to read but I don't know how coherent it is as a whole book.
vseto's review against another edition
challenging
informative
fast-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Gun violence
thewrightsage's review
2.0
As a psychological framework, "capture" has solid evidence that supports its existence. However, as a book, Capture is flimsy at best, and completely pointless at its worst.
If you want to read this book and understand what capture is, I suggest reading the first chapter and the first chapter only. The first chapter describes what capture is, and if the book stopped there, I would give it 5 stars. But the the remaining pages go through a meandering and pointless excursion through a curbside puddle pretending to be a great river of knowledge so poorly that trudging through the pages are reminiscent of being burned in the fiery pits of hell on a Thursday afternoon in March.
Essentially, Capture failed fantastically in its effort to capture my attention and the only reason why I finished this book is because I was on a very long drive and had no other reading material at hand, but I'm fairly sure that my passengers were equally dismayed as I complained.
Nonetheless, I truly admire the work that Dr Kessler has done in recognizing that these patterns of behavior are tied to serious mental illness. I am not rating the research, which was great and admirable, but rather the way in which it has been displayed. The writing was solid, but the presentation of the material was seriously lacking.
Two stars because of the first chapter.
If you want to read this book and understand what capture is, I suggest reading the first chapter and the first chapter only. The first chapter describes what capture is, and if the book stopped there, I would give it 5 stars. But the the remaining pages go through a meandering and pointless excursion through a curbside puddle pretending to be a great river of knowledge so poorly that trudging through the pages are reminiscent of being burned in the fiery pits of hell on a Thursday afternoon in March.
Essentially, Capture failed fantastically in its effort to capture my attention and the only reason why I finished this book is because I was on a very long drive and had no other reading material at hand, but I'm fairly sure that my passengers were equally dismayed as I complained.
Nonetheless, I truly admire the work that Dr Kessler has done in recognizing that these patterns of behavior are tied to serious mental illness. I am not rating the research, which was great and admirable, but rather the way in which it has been displayed. The writing was solid, but the presentation of the material was seriously lacking.
Two stars because of the first chapter.
maria_3k's review
4.0
If you want to know every detail of David Foster Wallace's life and death, definitely read this. His name should be in the subtitle. There are also incredibly detailed portraits of John Lennon's killer and other unfortunates trapped in a mental loop they couldn't escape. The author is able to present them sympathetically and clinically at the same time, an impressive feat.
Not lighthearted reading, but worthwhile for anyone interested in the spectrum of addiction.
Not lighthearted reading, but worthwhile for anyone interested in the spectrum of addiction.