With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition, award-winning author Andrew Solomon takes the reader on a journey of incomparable range and resonance into the most pervasive of family secrets. His contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition is truly stunning. The Noonday Demon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policymakers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has had on various demographic populations around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. The depth of human experience Solomon chronicles, the range of his intelligence, and his boundless curiosity and compassion will change the reader's view of the world.

安德魯·所羅門，先後畢業於美國耶魯大學及英國劍橋耶酥學院，是藝評傢，長期研究俄國地下前衛藝術，他本人就是憂鬱癥患者。在曆經數次崩潰並努力探尋解決之道後，他整理齣一篇報導，登刊於《紐約客》。沒想到這篇報導引起讀者廣大的迴響，於是他決定將這篇報導擴大為一本從醫學、心理、文學、曆史、政治等角度全麵關照憂鬱癥的書籍，便是此書。