Table Of Content"flamison is] that rare writer who can offer a kind of unified field theory
of science and art.... She argues-with her usual wit, ingenuity and
panache-that exutrerance is one of creativity's wellsprings."
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Bestselling author of An Unguiet Mind
ACCLAIM FOR KAY R E D FIE LD JA M ISO N ’ S
Exuberance
“Our foremost chronicler of the mind’s darkest weather . . . demon
strates that exuberance is necessary for creativity and discovery.”
—Salon
“[Jamison’s] prose leaps from the page.” —Discover
“Extraordinary grace. ... A literary stylist of the first order, with
prose of luminescent eloquence.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A book to dive into for inspiration. . . . Jamison makes a com
pelling, memorable case for finding joy in the world.”
— The Star-Ledger (Newark)
“Important. . . . Captivating. . . . [Jamison’s] sentences stop one
with their beauty and power.... [She] plunges into the light, cele
brating exuberance as a powerful life force that fuels discoveries,
inspires us, and even helps us to survive.” — The Baltimore Sun
“A hymn to exuberance in all the places it may be found. ... A
well-written and engaging study.” — The Wall Street Journal
“A delight to read. . . . Offers a compelling exploration of the
beguiling emotion essential to the hope for joy and discovery that
keeps us going.” — The Oregonian
“[Jamison’s] lyrical stream flows abundantly, her generosity of spirit
is everywhere, and her wisdom has never been greater. A delight of
a book.” —Antonio Damasio, author of Descartes’ Error
“[Jamison’s] energy and intelligence, and her wide-ranging knowl
edge of literature and history keep the book buoyant and enter
taining.” —Psychology Today
“Jamison’s wise and spirited book celebrates the leaders, the scien
tists, the artists who take risks, transporting the rest of us to real
and imaginary places we might never experience on our own....
[She also] eloquently describes the border that enthusiasm shares
with fanaticism. ” — The Boston Herald
“Kay Jamison’s unquenchable prose matches the luxuriant lives of
her doers and shakers.”
—James Watson, Nobel laureate and author of The Double Helix
“Nobody understands better than Kay Redfield Jamison the line
between high spirits and madness.... [She] grants us new license
to be ambitious, to be wildly in love with the world’s mysteries
and our pursuit of them.” —Elle
“Jamison’s exquisite prose carries us through this thought-provoking
book as if we were surfing on splendid waves—the moments of
inspiration just keep coming. This is one of the best books of [the
year].” — Spirituality and Health
“In a witty and seamless meditation, [Jamison] explores the long-
neglected positive trait of exuberance, a normal but highflying
button-busting appetite for life.” — Time
“Jamison has by now produced an impressive and thorough investi
gation of moods and mood disorders studied from all angles, includ
ing the most personal.” — The Washington Post Book World
K ay R e d f ie l d J am ison
Exuberance
Kay Redfield Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine and codirector of the
Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center. She is also Honorary Pro
fessor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
She is the author of the national bestsellers An Unquiet Mind:
A Memoir of Moods and Madness, Night Falls Fast: Understanding
Suicide, and Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the
Artistic Temperament. She is coauthor of the standard medical text
on manic-depressive illness and author or coauthor of more than
one hundred scientific papers about mood disorders, creativity,
and psychopharmacology. Dr. Jamison, the recipient of numerous
national and international scientific awards, was Distinguished Lec
turer at Harvard University in 2002 and the Litchfield lecturer at
the University of Oxford in 2003. She is a John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Fellow.
ALSO BY KAY REDFIELD JAMISON
Night Falls Fast:
Understanding Suicide
An Unquiet Mind:
A Memoir ofM oods and Madness
Touched with Fire:
Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament
TEXTBOOKS
Manic-Depressive Illness
(with Frederick Goodwin)
Abnormal Psychology
(with Michael Goldstein and Bruce Baker)
EXUBERANCE
The Passion for Life
BY
Kay Redfield Jamison
VINTAGE BOOKS
A DIVISION OF RANDOM HOUSE, INC.
NEW YORK
FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2005
Copyright © 2004 by Kay Redfield Jamison
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published
in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York, in 2004.
Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Owing to limitations of space, all acknowledgments for permission
to reprint previously published material may be found preceding
the index.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Jamison, Kay R.
Exuberance / by Kay Redfield Jamison,
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Joy. 2. Enthusiasm. I. Title.
BF575.H27J36 2004
I52.4'2—dc22
2004046561
Vintage ISBN: 0-375-70148-6
Book design by Virginia Tan
www.vintagebooks.com
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8
For my father,
MarshallJamison, Ph.D.,
whose exuberance
has been deeply and wonderfully contagious
and
Daniel Auerbach, M.D.,
to whom I owe so much of my life and work
In Memoriam
Richard Wyatt, M.D.,
my husband, colleague, and closest confidant
and
Dr. Harriet Braiker,
David Mahoney, Dr. Anthony Storr,
Judy Hoyer, and Katharine Graham,
irreplaceable friends
Description:With the same grace and breadth of learning she brought to her studies of the mind’s pathologies, Kay Redfield Jamison examines one of its most exalted states: exuberance. This “abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion” manifests itself everywhere from child’s play to scientific breakthrou
