In The Inherited Mind, James Longman has written a book about his experiences with mental illness and how we can better understand ways to deal with it. He is an ABC News correspondent in London. He begins the book by sharing how when he was 9 years old, he was summoned by his headmaster when he was playing with one of his friends. He was told that there was an accident and there was nothing they could do to save him. His father had been killed in a fire. He didn’t know until he got older that his father was diagnosed with schizophrenia and a few other disorders. His parents had been separated since he was three. Later she told him that because of this she was afraid to leave him alone with him. When he was a kid, he believed that his father was a hero. He didn’t discover the real story of what happened to his dad until he was twenty-six and he was researching it for a news story. His father had experienced hallucinations and neighbors that were interviewed described how he was hearing voices. It was later confirmed that there was in fact a fire but that he jumped out the window. He explained how he was able to track down some of the assessment notes from psychiatrists that tried to help his day. They believed that he was suicidal and readers can actually read some of these throughout the book. He enclosed some credible sources on what the disorders are and how others have found help.


I would recommend this book to anyone battle mental illness and they are feeling alone and depressed. This book has the potential to touch lives. I liked how in the book he revealed his own bouts with depressions and how some of this was linked to his sexuality. He wasn’t afraid to share details of his story. Readers will get to connect with his story along the way and get a glimpse into his family history with mental illness. I enjoyed how he reached out to different people in their respectable fields to gain and share the knowledge they have discovered. He touched on genetic traits, environmental factors, and is everything inherited, and the solution. This book is very eye opening and excellent resource for mental illness.

Published January 7

This is James' incredibly honest and open investigation into his own family and personal history with mental illness.

He includes current research topics, including the relevance of genetics, as well as interviews with experts. He additionally provides interviews of those impacted by various mental health issues, both familial and personal.

I found James' book to be very approachable. He is, admittedly, not great with math or science, and the thus expert interviews are at a layperson's level of understanding. He's also very up front about his own personal opinions of some treatments, and how his family's various dynamics have shown up in his own life.

I thoroughly embrace this kind of frank dialogue about mental health. Nobody is untouched by these issues.

Thank you to Hyperion Avenue and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This an extremely well researched book. Longman's skill as a writer shines through especially when he's explaining different mental health issues and how they possibly pertained to his father. Being a retired nurse I found that his explanations on specific conditions had just enough depth but could still be easily understood by those without a medical background.
The longing he felt to understand his father's condition shines through. It is shown in both his efforts to connect with those who could explain his illness and it's ramifications, as well as the caregivers who had been with him.
I hope writing this book gives Longman some peace of mind and comfort.

This is a book that will leave you thinking about it much past reading it. James Longman did an incredible job combining his own personal history with very informative brain research. I thought it was very effective to seamlessly integrate the research into his personal story. As James is a very successful journalist he was also able to add an historical and political aspect.

James Longman, the author, describes this work as part memoir, part science, and that is very true. He originally began his research into schizophrenia to understand his father, who committed suicide when James was 9, and stories about his father's life are interspersed with scientific explanations and current research. In the first half of the volume, the balance between memoir and science seemed quite good; in the second half, the balance shifted to more memoir, and while some of it was quite interesting, I thought that the written messages from James' mother and a therapist who worked with his father - printed in italics, which becomes difficult to read when continued over several pages - to be more detail than I wanted about John Longman's life. For the most part, however, I enjoyed this work and found the scientific information interesting, especially when incidents from John's life were used to illustrate the science, and/or why James went looking the direction that he did.

This volume could be beneficial for practitioners, those diagnosed with mental illness, and those who support those diagnosed with mental illness. It is relatively easy to read due to the conversational nature of the writing, although at times, it feels more like something James wrote for himself (which he admits that he did) than something intended for publication; indeed, I have to wonder if he decided to publish it more because he was already writing it for himself than any other reason. While relatively easy to access, I sometimes felt that the casual conversational tone downplayed the seriousness of some of the information present. Due to both the subject matter and the level of science, it is recommended for older teens and adults.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Poignant, raw and relatable. What courage to share his families deepest secrets and tragedies while supporting others in the same boat. Mental health is a topic that often feels off limits but it needs to be spoken about so the stigma goes away. Thank you to James Longman for sharing his story.

James Longman's dad suffered from depression and schizophrenia, ultimately dying by suicide. James struggled with depression, himself, leading him to wonder if genetics contributed to mental health. The author describes The Inherited Mind as part memoir and part science in his search for answers.

The book goes back and forth repeatedly between memoir and science. The science parts seemed to go on forever, although that is probably because so much went over my head. I absolutely loved the memoir portions! Hands down, my very favorite part of The Inherited Mind was when James met his father's first girlfriend, Lizzie. She was such a hoot and had loved John deeply.

Probably my favorite thing I am taking from the book, and something I plan on using OFTEN, is when I think back on something I desperately wish I'd done differently, I'm going to repeat as often as it takes: "I forgive myself."

Thank you #HyperionAvenue for providing this book for review consideration via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own. It has an expected publication date of January 7, 2025.

#JamesLongman #MentalHealth #Family #Nonfiction

I know James Longman as a TV reporter, and for being one of the relatively few out gay men in the media.

Longman’s backstory I did not know - his father committed suicide, as did his father's father, and he has struggled with depression himself. Longman was a preteen in boarding school when his father died, and as he got older had his own experience with depression. That history is the starting off point for The Inherited Mind, which he describes as part memoir, part science, as it combines his own story with research to learn more about the role genetics plays in mental illness.

The book really does veer back and forth between memoir and science, from Longman’s coming out story and him learning about his father’s life before he got sick, to interviews and research on what is happening in the field of mental health.

I loved the personal parts of this book - with heart and humour we learn about his father’s life with and without his mental illness, about the impact his loss had on Longman and how he now forges his way through his own life, from coming out to travelling the world and building his career.

The memoir parts of the book are smart and touching and brave and brutally honest and sometimes heartbreaking.

The science parts of the book sometimes read like really smart book reviews, and after a certain point engaged me less.

Overall an emotional, interesting and sometimes dazzling read.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book compliments of NetGalley in exchange of my review. The concept of the book "The Inherited Mind: A Story of Family, Hope, and the Genetics of Mental Illness" is interesting as James Longman is trying to find if there is a genetic component to mental illness. The book looks at his father's struggle with schizophrenia and the author's struggle to learn about who his father was, and if his family's mental illness history is genetic. This is the sort of nature versus nature argument to mental illness.

However, this book read more like a book report where the author was citing other references to his research. At times he tries to fill in the narrative with notes from his father's doctors and former friends. I enjoyed learning about the upcoming genetic research components that are becoming available to research mental illnesses and the genetics involved. But I felt like the story at times veered off on tangents of the authors life ( i.e. it went off on a biography tangent) then what the initial concept was about.

I appreciated James Longman sharing his story with the reader, it had that overall concept that I was hoping for. It does a great job in sharing mental health and how it can affect your journey. I was engaged with what was happening and thought everything was written well and glad it was a journey.

Fascinating read by an author who is so close to the subject matter that it is of life-altering importance that he gets it right. Love that the book includes information on depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia and the heritability of these diseases. Love even more the hope the author imbues for others who travel what can be a sometimes devastatingly difficult, lonely road.

The Inherited Mind by James Longman is a deeply personal and well-reported look into the science of mental illness. Longman pulls no punches in detailing the tragic impact of mental illness in his family. He laces that with explanations of the science of mental illness that is highly understandable and accessible for the lay person. No PhD required to get a feel for genomics or other scientific principles that guide the study of mental illness. The deeply personal nature of Longman's make this a book that is hard to put down. It's one of the most accessible looks at the science of mental illness that I've ever read. Thank you to #netgalley and #hyperionavenue for the opportunity to preview #theinheritedmind