Synopses & Reviews
Dear Patrick,
For five years I have been witness to your struggles to grow up without a father. As a family friend, I can't make that up to you. What I can do is stand by you, and teach you how to be the kind of man you wish your father had been ...
So begins the correspondence of two unlikely friends, Patrick Buckley, a sixteen-year-old New York City high schooler, and Jeffrey M. Schwartz, internationally renowned neuroscientist and the critically acclaimed author of Brain Lock and The Mind and the Brain. Inspired by Patrick's straight forward questions, Schwartz examines the moral teachings of our greatest spiritual leaders -- Jesus, Buddha, and Moses -- and filters them through the lens of his cutting-edge psychiatric research, as well as his own experiences of childhood loneliness and loss. With fierce certainty and love, Schwartz provides Patrick with a blueprint for breaking free from the culture of corrosive cynicism that threatens to destroy him, and for constructing a decent, meaningful, and fulfilling life. The result is a fascinating and revolutionary new code for living born of a man and a boy who sought honor and self-command in a culture of self-indulgence.
Synopsis
In an age of unprecedented material temptation, millions of us find ourselves unable to control the desire for instant gratification. Scientists tell us our weaknesses are the product of our genes, hormones, and childhoods; that we are powerless against the hedonism--destructive eating, sex, drugs, spending, violence--that threatens to destroy us. In Mastering the Lost Art of Self-Command, internationally renowned psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz combines Christian and Buddhist morality with cutting-edge brain research to unequivocally confirm that we are the arbiters of our own destiny. Schwartz reaffirms the importance self-command: the ability to control and curb our self-destructive instincts. Dr. Schwartz's philosophy is revealed through a frank and compelling exchange of letters between himself and sixteen-year-old Patrick Buckley. As Patrick negotiates the temptations of adolescence in America, Dr. Schwartz addresses his urgent questions about morality, responsibility, and freedom of choice. A landmark work of ethics and science, Mastering the Lost Art of Self-Command provides a concrete solution for the cynicism that has corroded our ideals.
About the Author
Jeffrey M. Schwartz M.D. is an internationally-recognized authority on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and is the author of the bestseller Brain Lock. He is a Research Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine.