With a major new chapter on recently introduced and novel treatments, suicide and antidepressants, pregnancy and depression, and much more.

The Noonday Demon’s contribution to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition in general is stunning. The book 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 subtleties, the complexities, and the agony of the disease.

Solomon, whose 1998 New Yorker article on depression garnered vast attention, confronts the challenge of defining the illness and the wide range of available drug treatments, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact depression has on various demographic populations. He also explores the thorny moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness.

Like Jacques Barzun, Robert Hughes, or Elaine Pagels, Solomon employs a single lens—depression—and through it shapes a work of immense cultural significance. This book will change readers’ view of the world.

Excerpts

The Dying of the Light

The Longest Night

Living With Depression

I’m Not Mad. Or Am I?

Unbearable: The Secret Sadness of Pregnancy With Depression

Praise for The Noonday Demon

“An amazingly rich and absorbing work.” — William Styron

“You cannot fail to be humbled, moved and in some way renewed by The Noonday Demon. It is at once erudite, personable and profoundly challenging.” — Melanie McGrath, New Zealand Herald

“Mixes personal narrative, anecdote and research findings in an absorbing, flowing narrative” — Bill Williams, Hartford Courant

“Solomon charts the history, the science, and even the philosophy of depression with an industry and thoroughness that must have been hell for him to achieve.” — Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

“With uncommon humanity, candor, wit, and erudition… Andrew Solomon takes the reader on a journey of incomparable range and resonance.” — O: The Oprah Magazine

“A remarkably addictive and invigorating history.” — Richard Cohen, Commonweal

“Both heart-rending and fascinating… the book has a scope and passionate intelligence that give it intrigue as well as heft.” — Boston Globe

“Permeated with the victim’s relentless honesty, curiosity, and passion to understand his own fall and to share the fruits of his scholarly journey.” — Justin Simon, American Journal of Psychiatry

“An elegantly written, meticulously researched book that is empathetic and enlightening, scholarly and useful.” — Christine Whitehouse, TIME

“A considerable accomplishment…. its generous assortment of voices, from the pathological to the philosophical, makes for rich, variegated reading.” — Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times

“All-encompassing, brave, and deeply humane… open-minded, poetic, and critically informed at the same time.” — Richard Bernstein, New York Times

“This compassionate work that never simplifies complex matters is essential for all collections.” — Mary Ann Hughes, Library Journal

“Depression is a country that the undepressed can’t enter, but Solomon… bends all his energy and talent as a writer to sending us snapshots from this terrifying land.” — Nicci Gerrard, The Observer

Awards & Booklists

National Book Award for Nonfiction (2001)

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction (2001)

Lambda Literary Award for Autobiography/Memoir (2001)

American Library Association Notable Nonfiction of 2002

Books for a Better Life Award (National Multiple Sclerosis Society) (2002)

Ken Book Award (National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City) (2002)

MIND Book of the Year (2002)

Dr. Albert J. Solnit Memorial Award (Fellowship Place) (2002)

Voice of Mental Health Award (Jed Foundation/Mental Health America) (2002)

New Visions Award (Quality Paperback Book Club) (2002)

Prism Award (National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association) (2002)

Erasing the Stigma Leadership Award (Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services) (2003)

Charles T. Rubey L.O.S.S. Award (Karla Smith Foundation) (2003)

Silvano Arieti Award (William Alanson White Institute) (2003)

New York Times Notable Books: Nonfiction (2001)

American Library Association Notable Nonfiction (2002)

Translations

Chinese (Taiwan): 正午惡魔 / Zheng wu e mo: you yu zheng ji shi

Translator: 鄭慧華 / Zheng Huihua. Taipei: 原水文化 / Yuan shui wen hua, 2004.

Chinese (PRC): 走出忧郁 / Zou chu you yu

Translator: 李凤翔 / Fengxiang Li. Chongqing: 重庆出版社 / Chongqing chu ban she, 2010.

Danish: Helvedes Malstrøm

Translator: Lisbeth W. Sørensen. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2006.

Dutch: Demonen van de Middag: Een Persoonlijke Geschiedenis van Depressie

Translator: Tinke Davids. Amsterdam: Anthos, 2002.

Estonian: Talinn: Ann Tenno Press (forthcoming).

Finnish: Keskipäivän demoni: Masennuksen Atlas

Translator: Arto Schroderus. Helsinki: Tammi, 2002.

Reviews & Interviews: Yhteiskuntapolitiikka

French: Le Diable intérieur: Anatomie de la dépression

Translator: Claudine Richetin. Paris: Albin Michel, 2002.

German: Saturns Schatten: Die dunklen Welten der Depression

Translator: Gabriele Gockel, Hans Günter Holl, Gerlinde Schermer-Rauwolf. Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch, 2001, 2019. (Read an excerpt)

Greek: Ο δαίμων της μεσημβρίας / O daímōn tēs mesēmbrías

Translator: Αγγελική Στουπάκη / Angela Stoupakis. Athens: Αλεξάνδρεια / Alexandria, 2004.

Hebrew: דמון של צהריים / Demon shel Tsohorayim: Anatomyah shel Dikaʼon

Translator: יוסי מילוא / Yosi Milo. Tel Aviv: עם עובד / ʻAm ʻoved, 2004.

Italian: Il Demone del Mezzogiorno: Depressione: La Storia, la Scienza, le Cure

Translator: Adria Tissoni. Milan: Mondadori, 2002.

Japanese: 真昼の悪魔 : うつの解剖学 / Mahiru no Akuma: Utsu no Kaibogaku

Translator: リカ ツツミ / Rika Tsutsumi. Tokyo: 原書房 / Hara Shobō, 2003

Korean: 한낮의우울 : 내면의어두운그림자우울에관한모든것 / Han nat ui uul naemyon ui oduun kurimja uul e kwanhan modun kot

Translator: 민승남 / Sŭng-nam Min. Seoul: 민음사 출판그룹 / Minumsa, 2004.

Norwegian: Depresjonens demoner (original title: Mørke Midt på Dagen: En Bok om Depresjon)

Translator: Heidi Grinde. Oslo: Gyldendal, 2003; Forlaget Press, 2014.

Reviews & Interviews: Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening | Levevei

Polish: Anatomia Depresji: Demon w Środku dnia

Translator: Jolanta Bartosik. Poznań: Zysk i S-ka, 2004.

Portuguese (Brazil, 2014 edition): O Demônio do Meio-Dia: Uma Anatomia da Depressão

Translator: Myriam Campello. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, July 2014. (Read an excerpt)

Reviews & Interviews: Companhia das Letras | O Globo

Portuguese (Brazil, 2018 edition): O Demônio do Meio-Dia: Uma Anatomia da Depressão

Translator: Myriam Campello. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, December 2018.

Portuguese (Portugal): O Demónio da Depressão: Um Atlas da Doença

Translators: Francisco Paiva Boléo, Constança Paiva Boléo. Lisbon: Quetzal Editores, 2016. (Read an excerpt)

Reviews & Interviews: Expresso | Noticias a o Minuto | Observador | SAPO 24 | Delas | Publico

Romanian: Demonul Amiezii: O Anatomie a Depresiei

Translator: Dania-Ligia Ilin. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2014. (Read an excerpt)

Reviews & Interviews: Contributors.ro | Post Modern | Adevarul | Dilema Veche

Russian: Демон полуденный : анатомия депрессии / Demon poludennyĭ: anatomii depressii

Translator: Александр Дорман / Alexander Dorman. Moscow: Добрая книга / Dobraya Kniga, 2004. (Read an excerpt)

Reviews & Interviews: Labyrinth

Spanish: El Demonio de la Depresión

Translator: Fernando Mateo. Barcelona: Ediciones B., 2002; Madrid: Suma de Letras, 2004; Madrid: Debate, 2015.

Reviews & Interviews: El Mundo | El Pais

Swedish: Depressionens Demoner

Translator: Gun Zetterström. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 2002; Stockholm: Månpocket, 2003.

Turkish: Depresyon Atlası: Depresyon Hakkında Merak Ettiğiniz Her Şey

Translator: Berna Çapçı, Gülderen Dedeağaç, Funda Tatar. Istanbul: Okuyan Us Yayın, 2005.