Jaime Lowe

If you enjoyed episode 1 of Netflix's Fire Chasers, you will find this book fascinating. Lowe looks at the female inmates training and working as fire crews during California's ever-extending fire season. She examines the pros --the fitness, schedule, relative freedom, better food, the skills learned, and meaningful work--and the cons--low pay and danger. She interviewed several women during their time in camp and then after their release.

This book is fascinating, in that this program is (at least pre-Covid) vital to California's firefighting strategy. Lowe looks at the history of the program, and the women's program in particular. She looks at what inamtes have to do to even qualify for training. She does a good job describing the hills above Malibu--the terrain, the density of brush, the poison oak.

This book is also full of sloppy fact-checking, which always makes me question what else is wrong that I am missing. MacArthur Park is not in South LA. Chino is a city that incorporated 112 years ago (not an unincorporated town). Chino Hills and Chino are two different places. What she describes as "mixed-conifer forest" is...not. In her overview of PG&E and Edison being found guilty for fires, she also does not mention the California Public Utilities Commission's role in their management. PG&E may be private, but they are unable to raise rates or do much of anything without CA PUC approval. The California laws are crazy--if a 50-foot tree on private property falls over and sparks a fire when it hits power lines 30 feet away, the power company is considered liable even though they are not permitted to clear 30 feet on both sides of their lines and have no control over that private property.

Only in the epilogue does she discuss the new law (from 2020) that, in theory, permits prisoner firefighters to be hired as CalFire/city firefighters. In the past only the feds would hire felons. I would have liked to read more about this and if it is working, but she does discuss how with Covid camps have been shut down, methods changed, and additional non-incarcerated firefighters hired.

There is a short list of sources (all published), but there are exactly zero citations within the book. She does not list any info on her own interviews (I understand using aliases to protect people from harassment of any kind, but...dates/places/alias? anything?) in her source list. There are no footnotes, endnotes, chapter notes.

3 stars? I liked this and think I learned things (unless they are wrong?), but it feels like "breaking news" from a newspaper, not a well-researched and complete nonfiction book.… (altro)

Mental was an extremely hard read for me as I have 2 brothers suffering from BiPolar disease. Some things I did learn in this book is why it took so long for one of my brother's to finally be diagnosed, because he never showed signs of manic tendencies or even a low depression, he just seemed a bit "off" never those big swings.
My other brother was so involved in drugs and alcohol (as Jamie was) that we missed the diagnosis all the way around until he 40 years old. His mania didn't seem manic, if just felt like one of Jamie's fun days that lasted 90 percent of his weeks. He was only low when he was jobless, broke, lonely, or in Jail. How we missed his signs, I'll never know.

I appreciate the honesty of Jaimie's telling of her story. She trusts her audience. She takes wild risks and shares them with the world even when she knows that a lot of her mania is so out there a lot of people would never understand that its from a disease.

Mental is a dark, eye-opening, riotous traveling as if on a rollercoaster tale of how one drug, a natural product can help regulate a disease so terrifying and hard for those who live with their BiPolar family member. The knowledge Jamie gives her readers about Lithium is abundant and much needed so we can see others with a sense of compassion and love and not misunderstanding. She even helped me, a family member, who has been involved in her brother's life for over 30 years of the disease to find new ways to support my brother even more.

Thank you Penguin First Read for letting me have the opportunity to read this book in lieu of my honest review.… (altro)

Part memoir, part history, Mental is as quirky as its author. Diagnosed as being on the bipolar spectrum during a severely manic episode, Lowe recounts her two episodes and what life is like in-between. She asks herself if she is the same person when she is manic; how many of her symptoms might be personality; and how other people's opinions of her change after witnessing an episode. The questions are rhetorical, as the author herself is unsure of the answers or if the questions can even be answered.

After 20+ years on lithium, the author begins to experience kidney problems. It is a not uncommon side-effect of long-term lithium use, especially if the user does not monitor kidney function. Lithium saved her life, and the decision of whether to stop taking it is a difficult one. In order to make an informed decision, she learns as much as she can about the element, including why there is a "lithium problem" in astrophysics, how it is mined and processed, the history of its use, and how naturally occurring lithium in the water supply can effect towns. This was the part of the book that I found most interesting.… (altro)