Matt Haig has, in the last few years, become a rather successful novelist. He has published five acclaimed adult novels, and a number of books for children and young adults. Before that, though, when he was 24, he had an experience with depression that almost killed him. This is a book partly about that, but it's also an exploration of how to live better. He says he wrote this book "because the oldest cliches remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it...words, just sometimes, really can set you free."
This is not a self-help book in the traditional sense. It doesn't have glib answers, he's not setting himself up as an expert on depression; he's just a guy who has had depression, came out of it, and wants to share his experiences and what he's learned about himself, in the hope that it might also help others.
Even if you have never had depression, you probably know someone who has, and this book will help you understand what they're going through. If you have had depression, this book will not patronise you or your experience, or claim to have all the answers, but you might just be moved by it, amused by it, or encouraged by it.
It has the author's own experiences interspersed with recent brain science, elements of memoir, and, probably its most imaginative and funniest sections, lists. Lists like 'Things people say to depressives that they don't say in other life threatening situations', 'Depression is...', 'Things that have happened to me that have generated more sympathy than depression' (Having to be circumcised when I was 11), 'How to live: 40 pieces of advice I feel to be helpful, but which I don't always follow' (Be gentle with yourself. Work less. Sleep more.)
A wonderful book! Buy it!