Rating: 
Summary: My totally subjective opinion
Review: So much has been said already, but I worked my way through this book while I was depressed, so I'm going to be self-indulgent, (hey, the author dabbled in it) and put in my two cent's worth. (Writing had a few cliches and over-dramatization too.)Be that as it may, I appreciated this book by a writer instead of a clinician who can' t write. I've had chronic major depression my whole life and value every book that speaks to those of us who aren't going to be "cured" anytime soon. Books with titles such as "Five New Steps to a Happier You" and "Smile, Your Life Awaits You" are responsible for half the nausea in the self-help section. I appreciated the author's compassion in the chapter on poverty. I recently had to go on disability and a small fixed income. It was as if he spoke directly to me. He understood its effects on mood, whereas my last two therapists have been clueless. I also liked the way he encouraged people who genuinely need to take medication long-term. He addressed the stigma and the pressure to get along without drugs very well. I'm glad he acknowledged in a gracious way that he has more money and opportunity than many of us will ever have. He didn't seem aware, however, that most of us don't have thousands of friends who will drop everything in their lives so they can meet our every need. It got me wondering (in a curious way, not a mean way) what there is about this guy that makes people so nuts (sorry!) about him? I wish he could bottle it. And maybe after reading my review a few people will think I could use some. However, I think anyone whose life has been touched by depression will find something of value in "Noonday Demon." Whatever its shortcomings, I'm glad I discovered this unique and at times beautiful book.
Rating:
Summary: A much needed failure
Review: "Worldwide, including the developing world, depression accounts for more of the disease burden, as calculated by premature death plus healthy life-years lost to disability, than anything else but heart disease. Depression claims more years than war, cancer, and AIDS put together. Other illnesses, from alcoholism to heart disease, mask depression when it causes them; if one takes that into consideration, depression may be the biggest killer on earth." (p. 25.) No doubt, this book is needed. There is already a great body of both popular and scientific literature dealing with the subject of depression, but most of it has very narrow focus. A comprehensive treatment that takes psychological, cultural, social and philosophical issues into account is now long overdue, and such a treatment is exactly what Solomon sets out to provide us with. Unfortunately, he does not pass the test by a long shot, even though there are moments of brilliance. As most other reviewers have done a good job describing the qualities of the book, my sole focus will be on its defects. Firstly, it is clear that Solomon is in love with himself. He contaminates almost every single discussion in the book with references to his own problems and pains, and rarely in a very convincing way. Not even the part where he describes his "suicide attempt," when he repeatedly engaged in high-risk sexual acts, comes across as very genuine. This does in part depend on his insistence on using a grossly exaggerated vocabulary for every phenomenon that is even remotely pathological. For instance, he describes the onset of depressive feelings as a "mental breakdown" and frequently describes himself as "losing his mind," "going irretrievably mad" and so on. Such phrases are rarely, if ever, used when discussing diseases that are not psychotic in nature. It is as if he is desperate to prove that his depression is "real" and not merely weakness of character, despite his constant assurances that he does not need to embark on such an endeavor. He does state that "this is an extremely personal book and should not be taken as anything more than that." But this will not do: either it is the atlas its title implies, or it is his personal crusade against whatever it is he is crusading against. It cannot be both. Secondly, Solomon has strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry and this shows. He is at places a little too pro-drugs for me to feel comfortable with his reasoning, and he dismisses books such as "Prozac Backlash" as worthless without further ado and refuses to even mention their, in my opinion, sometimes valid criticism. To his merit it should be said that he at no time subscribes to the popular but frustratingly one sided view of mental illnesses in general and depression in particular as reducible to "chemical imbalances in the brain," but he is still a far way off from offering a balanced account of available drug treatments. Thirdly, he all too often seems eager to label every merely slightly suspicious behavioral pattern as a variant of depression. Some people described in the book as suffering from major depression does not appear to satisfy even the most liberal interpretation of what constitutes a real depressive episode, while others seem to be obvious cases of other disorders, such as BPD or PTSD. This, in conjunction with his omittance of discussion of disorders similar or related to depression, makes me wonder if he's not blissfully unaware of the existence of other mental disorders altogether. Finally, the book is too long. It is repetitive and unnecessarily wordy. A decent editor should be able to cut it down to two thirds without losing anything substantial. All this having been said, I still think Solomon has done a good job, perhaps better than anyone before him. As already noted, other reviewers have successfully described the good aspects of the book and I felt it was more important to illuminate the flip side of the coin than merely repeating what has already been said. To summarize: this is not the depression bible we've been waiting for, but it may be the best we have this far.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Book!
Review: The Noonday Demon copes with depression and has war with depression. Its a itellectual study of everything depression like. Sad book, I dont recommend it to people who aren't depressed. It's very critical and dependant. Andrew Soloman is definitely not afraid to push the edge. I liked it!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read this book if you are depressed!
Review: I wish I had read more of the reviews before I bought this book. As it was, I only saw the first few and they were all positive. You would do well to read a few of the negative reviews, they have alot of important things to say about why this book is not as great as popular opinion seems to think. Yes, there is alot of information about drugs for depression and many anecdotal sequences touching on therapy and other people's experiences, but this is one person's very skewed view of things. I know there is hope out there for those of us who suffer from depression so I can't give up and I hope you don't either. But overall, I did not find this book to be positive or uplifting or to offer much hope. And I don't recommend reading this book if you are already depressed, it may only make you feel worse, as it did for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Grappling with Depression/
Review: About a 1/3 of the way through this book - which reads like an anecdotal thriller - rather than a "case study" - I felt compelled to advise my therapist/psychiatrist/Gen. Practitioner of this Marvellous "ANATOMY OF DEPRESSION" from a lay person/patient's subjective viewpoint. Solomon indeed - knows his stuff, and it is remarkably well-researched for a non medical person. Myself a psychology major and a recurrent depression sufferer - I found a lot of the medical advice "state of the art!" Best book on the subject I've come across to date!
Rating:
Summary: It's real, it's honest, and it's what you need.
Review: If you have ever suffered from depression, or have had someone you love experience this debilitating disease, you need this book. I savored every page, finding comfort in the fact that not only had other people suffered from this disease, but that others had suffered so much worse and had survived. There is hope, and hope is in these pages. Andrew Solomon talks a lot about his own experiences with this dreadful disease, but he introduces us to others that are so pitiful, so heart-wrenching, you cannot help but want to pray and hope for these people. If this book ever reaches the higher echelons of our red taped Congress, and if those members themselves read it, I believe it would change the way mental health is viewed forever. There is candor here also, and some humor, but by confronting the very definition of depression, Andrew Solomon has made great strides into this vast realm of unbelievable depths. He covers treatments of the disease, the good side and the bad, population statistics (which will render you speechless), the history of depression, suicide, addiction, the evolution of depression, and lastly, but most importantly, hope. I loved and treasured the last few pages, his last words, his truthfulness and openness. Please read this book. Please read it. If not for yourself, for others you know. The friend you talk to every day may suffer without your knowledge. Your teenager, so "normal" on the outside, may be in incredible pain, your aging parent.... the list goes on, but read this book. It is, without question, the foremost and most open book you will ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough! Maybe too Thorough
Review: "too much information," occasionally comes to mind when reading Noonday Demon, but that is far better than not enough. Solomon really dives into this subject with a vengance and gives you all you would ever hope to know regarding depressions history to treatments to modern perception,etc. The last chapter "Hope" is especially steller, and there is no chapter that is a let down. Occasionally I found the pace plodding, but I never thought his writing was in fact "depressing" it was enlightening, and an excellent job throughout.
Rating:
Summary: "Every depression has its own story."
Review: Most people occasionally experience feelings of melancholy, sadness, hopelessness and pessimism in response to a particular event, such as the death of a loved one or at the end of a relationship. As National Book Award Winner, Andrew Solomon, reveals in THE NOONDAY DEMON, however, a true depressive illness typically has no single, obvious cause. Solomon knows his subject. His 571-page book is as much a comprehensive "atlas of depression" as it is a candid autobiography of his own dark history with the illness. Equipped with plenty of empathy and scholarly research, Solomon guides us through a fascinating labyrinth of subjects related to the dark condition of human experience called depression--breakdowns, medication, alternative treatments, cultural and scientific statistics, addiction, and suicide--ultimately leading us to a better understanding of the illness that affects nearly 19 million Americans. Like William Styron's book, DARKNESS VISIBLE, before it, Solomon's NOONDAY DEMON is truly a must read for anyone interested in the darker range of human emotions. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Clarified What Depression Is
Review: I have only read the first two chapters so far, but feel compelled to share my thoughts about what I've learned. I've dealt with depression almost my whole life, and was recently diagnosed bipolar. What I thought was lazy, irresponsible behavior on my part, has actually been depression all along. I knew I was depressed, I have the high anxiety, panic attacks, etc, to go along with it. But I didn't realize my wanting to spend mutliple days in bed with no motivation to do anything was part of it. I usually berate myself at how lazy and irresponsible I am, and try to get myself up and do it again. Now that I understand more of what I am dealing with, I can put some modalities around my symptoms that may help me. I very much appreciated the candor of this book, and have never heard anyone speak so frankly about their depression. Even through therapy, the psychiatrist usually just listens, never saying exactly what symptoms are actually depression. It is good to hear someone who has researched the subject so thoroughly clarify such a confusing subject.
Rating:
Summary: The demons we all face in our lives
Review: A reader's guide to depression, hopelessly bleak yet heartbreakingly real. In this massive tome, Solomon (A Stone Boat, 1994, etc.) confronts the terrors of depression with a breadth both panoramic and precise. The 12 tersely titled chapters ("Depression," "Breakdowns," "Treatments," "Alternatives," "Populations," "Addiction," "Suicide," "History," "Poverty," "Politics," "Evolution," and "Hope") address with spectacular clarity the ways in which depression steals lives away, leaving its prey bereft of their very selves. Despite the occasional cliché ("Life is fraught with sorrows") and heavy metaphor ("Grief is a humble angel"), Solomon's prose illuminates a dark topic through the unfolding tales of his sources and his own life story; by allowing the voices of those who battle depression to speak, rich and varied pictures of daily struggle, defeat, and triumph ultimately emerge. The author deserves kudos as well both for the geographical span of his account (which ranges from Senegal to Greenland) and for its historical sweep (which begins with Hippocrates and continues to the present). Paradoxically, the completeness of Solomon's vision undermines his readability: so much suffering fills these pages that, at times, it's all a bit too much darkness. (The gruesome litany of suicide techniques, for example, seems gratuitous.) Nevertheless, the importance of the work becomes virtually self-evident when Solomon addresses such topics as the cultural denial of depression, masculine fears of seeking treatment, strengths and weaknesses of various treatments, the salutary effect of diet and exercise on depression, the high cost of treatment, and chronic depression among the elderly. Fortunately the final chapter is "Hope"-for the reader will certainly be in need of some after the marathon of gloom. So good, so vitally important, but so . . . depressing
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