‘I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.’ Descartes wanted to know if you could really know that anything was real, but he believed his ability to doubt reality proved that, while it might not be real, he was.

A fuller formation of Descartes’s philosophy would be Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum. For example, when Aza quotes Descartes’ ”I think therefore I am,” ”No, not really. Singh, a psychiatrist who quotes a lot of people. You’re fine he’s not even the first boy you’ve kissed eighty million organisms in me forever calm down permanently altering the microbiome this is not rational you need to do something please there is a fix here please get to a bathroom.” the thoughts are obsessive and downright compulsive, taking a hold of her and causing the stoppage of making out.Īza goes on to talk about the ”invasives” with Dr. I spun around and squirmed away from him. Let us take Aza’s words when she goes into her thought spiral, particularly when she makes out with Davis, a billionaire’s son whose dad goes missing. But I was beginning to learn that your life is a story told about you, not one that you tell.” John Green has a way of understanding the teenage mindset that is so powerful.Īza is a young woman who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a callus on her middle finger from continuing to crack open the cut because she goes into these thought spirals, leaving her to think that she has a microbial infection, C-Diff. If those forces had given me a different lunch period, or if the tablemates who helped author my fate had chosen a different topic of conversation that September day, I would’ve met a different end-or at least a different middle. I think Turtles All The Way Down, is, by far, one of the best teen books with a character with a mental illness. The narrator, Aza Holmes, starts off by stating, ”AT THE TIME I FIRST REALIZED I might be fictional, my weekdays were spent at a publicly funded institution on the north side of Indianapolis called White River High School, where I was required to eat lunch at a particular time-between 12:37 P.M. and 1:14 P.M.-by forces so much larger than myself that I couldn’t even begin to identify them. It was an awesome book tour and I was lucky to see him and his brother, Hank, in Minnesota! John Green reinforced this on his recent book tour, too.

If you or a loved one is dealing with a mental illness, let the person know there are people who love them.

The book covers a very serious issue regarding teens, mental health. Before I start, for those of you who have not read the book I am going to talk about, this doesn’t have any spoilers for Turtles All the Way Down by John Green.

Aza turtles all the way down