Showing results by narrator "Brian Jost" in All Categories

City Boy is the mental odyssey of a boy growing up in Minneapolis in the '60s and '70s. It's more of a memoir than an autobiography, meaning it's less factual and more intuitive. The boy is somewhat left to his own devices by way of a liberal upbringing, but this is balanced out by being saddled with a rigorous conscience. The thrust of the audiobook is about how the environment - the city - both offers and takes in ways that mold the boy, notwithstanding the fact the character is rebellious and unpredictable.

Twenty-year-old Andrew James Archer seemed to have it all as a midwestern college student at the top of the dean's list and with a beautiful girlfriend at his side. Yet somehow the balance of perfectionist goals and the ability to temporarily turn off anxiety with the help of alcohol and friends allowed Andrew to hide what was lying just beneath the surface: bipolar disorder. In his poignant personal narrative, Andrew invites others inside a hellish prism that left him the victim of substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, mania, and delusions - and in a psychiatric unit....

Being diagnosed with bipolar disorder was like losing my flight plan. It was as if my destination and alternate airports had disappeared. My engines were on fire during the height of my first full-blown manic episode and I was certain that a crash was imminent. An emergency was declared. To my surprise I learned that I had on board with me the love and support of family and friends. In the end I landed safe and sound, just not where I had intended. I was never able to make a career out of flying. Having worked four commercial pilot jobs as a flight instructor and charter pilot, I now know that those years were the beginning of unrecognized signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder. I was too restless to stay at one job long enough to be truly prepared for the next.