Audiobook7 hours
A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life
Written by Ayelet Waldman
Narrated by Ayelet Waldman
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
The true story of how a renowned writer’s struggle with mood storms led her to try a remedy as drastic as it is forbidden: microdoses of LSD. Her fascinating journey provides a window into one family and the complex world of a onceinfamous drug seen through new eyes.
When a small vial arrives in her mailbox from “Lewis Carroll,” Ayelet Waldman is ready to try anything. Her depression has become intolerable, severe and unmanageable; medication has failed to make a difference. Married with four children and a robust career, she “should” be happy, but instead her family and her work are suffering at the mercy of her mood disorder. So she opens the vial, places two drops on her tongue, and becomes part of a burgeoning underground group of scientists and civilians successfully using therapeutic microdoses of LSD.
As Waldman charts her experience over the course of a month, during which she achieved a newfound feeling of serenity, she also explores the history and mythology of LSD, the cutting-edge research into the drug, and the byzantine policies that control it. Drawing on her experience as a federal public defender, and as the mother of teenagers, and her research into the therapeutic value of psychedelics, Waldman has produced a book that is candid, revealing and completely enthralling.
When a small vial arrives in her mailbox from “Lewis Carroll,” Ayelet Waldman is ready to try anything. Her depression has become intolerable, severe and unmanageable; medication has failed to make a difference. Married with four children and a robust career, she “should” be happy, but instead her family and her work are suffering at the mercy of her mood disorder. So she opens the vial, places two drops on her tongue, and becomes part of a burgeoning underground group of scientists and civilians successfully using therapeutic microdoses of LSD.
As Waldman charts her experience over the course of a month, during which she achieved a newfound feeling of serenity, she also explores the history and mythology of LSD, the cutting-edge research into the drug, and the byzantine policies that control it. Drawing on her experience as a federal public defender, and as the mother of teenagers, and her research into the therapeutic value of psychedelics, Waldman has produced a book that is candid, revealing and completely enthralling.
Author
Ayelet Waldman
Ayelet Waldman is the author of the memoir, A Really Good Day, as well as of novels including Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. She is the editor of Inside This Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women's Prisons, and with Michael Chabon, of Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation and Fight of the Century.
More audiobooks from Ayelet Waldman
Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Treasure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to A Really Good Day
Related audiobooks
Listening to Ayahuasca: New Hope for Depression, Addiction, PTSD, and Anxiety Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Psychedelics Can Help Save the World: Visionary and Indigenous Voices Speak Out Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDon't Be A Dick: Change Yourself, Change Your World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Psychedelic Medicine: The Healing Powers of LSD, MDMA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Listening to Ecstasy: The Transformative Power of MDMA Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Psilocybin Mushrooms: A Practical Guide to the Types and Magic Effects of Psychedelic Mushrooms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shroom Trip Reports: What it's like to trip on Psilocybin Magic Mushrooms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Chemistry: The Science of Connection, from Soul to Psychedelics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healing with Psychedelics: Essays and Poems on Spirituality and Transformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Promise of Psychedelics: Science-Based Hope for Better Mental Heath Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Altered States of Consciousness: Experiences Out of Time and Self Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism, and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Psilocybin Mushrooms: The Complete Guide to Cultivation, Safe Use and Effects of Magic Mushrooms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MDMA Man XTC Rising: The Hidden History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holotropic Breathwork: A New Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5DMT Trip Reports: Experience What It’s Like Taking 5-MEO Dimethyltrptamine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Microdosing Psilocybin Mushrooms: An Essential Guide to Microdosing Magic Mushrooms & Microdosing Journal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Psychedelic Cannabis: Therapeutic Methods and Unique Blends to Treat Trauma and Transform Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5LSD — The Wonder Child: The Golden Age of Psychedelic Research in the 1950s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Personal Memoirs For You
The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Me: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: My Year of Psychedelics: Lessons on Better Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wishful Drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Summer of Fall: Gravity is a bitch, but I'm still standing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Night: New translation by Marion Wiesel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Mormon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5While Time Remains: A North Korean Girl's Search for Freedom in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Angela's Ashes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Lucy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for A Really Good Day
Rating: 4.206896496551725 out of 5 stars
4/5
116 ratings13 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Honest and funny, like most of Ayelet Waldman's work. It gives those of us with mental health issues a lot to think about.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really interesting. I found out about this book after watching Michael Pollans documentary “How to Change Your Mind” and wanted to know more about the subject. The book was full of information as well as anecdotal stories about her personal experience and life. I found it easy to follow.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very interesting, relatable and inspiring. Really enjoyed listening to it, and it is now one of my favorite books.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was expecting to find another somewhat dry, somewhat trying too hard book about psychedelics. Instead I felt like I was being told a very personal, very refreshing story about mental health, family, and self-discovery. I cried at times. I appreciate the author's honesty in her experience and relate to her in many ways. And I also deeply appreciate the thought-provoking look into the war on drugs and the systemic inequality in the justice system. A very timely and very helpful read for where I'm at in my life and in the struggle.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a REALLY good book! I enjoyed the author's frankness, openness and wit. She did a great job presenting research related to drug crimes. Ine the book she shares a lot but in a very universal way, so everyone can relate.
Highly recommended! - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very easy to listen to. I really enjoyed how she wove facts and stories together. Very entertaining and informative. I laughed and I cried. It was quite the journey.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Microdosing, it’s like smoke just one-two cigars per day, instead all package, any way you wan’t to go outside reality.. it’s not fix problems, it hides them.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not to put too fine a point on it, Waldman is an oversharer. If you want to know more than you really should about her father, her husband, and especially her personal physical and emotional problems, you've come to the right place. On the other hand, she's extremely intelligent, and the sections in which she details the surprising facts she uncovered while researching the history and pharmocology of what used to be called the "hallucinogens" are invaluably informative. There is stuff here that you need to know if you're considering microdosing, or (for that matter) embarking on a full-fledged psychedelic journey for the first time. It's an easier and quicker read than Michael Pollan's lengthier and more intellectual How to Change Your Mind. That book, like this one, is not a how-to book, which you're unlikely to find while the possession of these drugs is still criminalized in most places. But taken together, these two books form a helpful, current introduction to "mind-manifesting" substances and why they're experiencing a comeback after a couple generations of suppression.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the first book by Waldman I've read, and I suspect I'll be reading more. I found the combination of memoir with research on drug culture and policy quite provocative...I really want to read more of what informed her research now. She makes a compelling argument for the legalization of LSD and other drugs (not that I needed much convincing).
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audiobook read by the author. She has a pleasant voice. It was nice to listen to on my short commute to and from work and on my lunch breaks. I highly recommend this book to fans of Waldman, Chabon, and people interested in how drugs can be used positively in the right set and setting.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman (fun fact: her husband is Michael Chabon) is the story of her experiment taking LSD in quantities small enough not to create hallucinations but large enough to improve mood, work flow, etc. She's a former lawyer with drug law reform work experience, so she cites a ton of research, but it's at least equally as much a relatable, often funny, memoir.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/53.5 I first heard about microdosing on the radio. My commute to work is relatively short so I tend to listen to news radio. Especially since the election I tend to avoid the news of TV, which seems to be full of he who shall remain unnamed, so the radio fills this news gap nicely. They were discussing how microdosing is helping those who are dying, anyway when I saw this book I was interested enough to want to read further into the subject. Plus, I loved Waldman's Love and Treasure and she is married to Michael Chabon, so this seemed like a win, win.She has a extensive background in the drug culture, laws, and prosecution of those caught with drugs. So there is much information about the various drugs, past and present and I found this both informative and interesting. Much I was misinformed about, other things I never knew.Interspersed is a memoir of sorts, the reason she wanted to try this, her mood swings, pain and feelings of insecurity and to be a better person. Her marriage is mentioned quite often, the problems with this and motherhood. Taking it day by day, she chronicles this month long experiment. Found this well written, very honest, and well done. I wish her and her family well. Sometimes life is such a struggle and I applaud her efforts to try to improve what areas she can
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ayelet Waldman is a middle-aged mother of four, former public defender and current writer--not the type of person who you’d think would partake in regular dosing of LSD. In fact, the most mundane middle class reasons (perimenopausal mood swings and chronic pain) lead Waldman to undertake a journey of becoming a “psychedelic researcher”--one who self-experiments on subperceptual microdosing of hallucinogenic drugs. She also administers microdoses of medical history which leads to a call for rejecting the current narrative that’s been the decades-long directive of the War on Drugs and to start asking the right questions: what treatments for psychological distress are we missing by banning research on psychedelics? Is the war on drugs more harmful than helpful? This little book is an optimistic revolution of consciousness and perception.