a bit late

Admittedly, the book report blog posts were completely out of my mind this week. I’ll just blame it on the full moon. Anyways!
Smith begins on the path of his father again. His father was extremely passive when the voices were concerned. The elder Smith followed the voices’ instructions and consulted them on how to live. While he did consult a doctor about his growing depression, he never sought out a psychologist on the voice hearing. Not so say that he did not try to get rid of the voices; he tried multiple antidepressants, ignoring them, or even buying a gigantic lamp (to simulate the sun in the winter; a treatment for Season Affect Disorder). Still nothing worked. His father came out to Smith about hearing voices when Smith was sixteen, because of concerns over Smith “inheriting” the voices (Smith’s grandfather also heard voices).
This little anecdote into Smith’s research is one of my favorite parts (so far) because of the sheer curiosity I feel towards this experiment. Smith, still questioning his father’s sanity, contacts a committee that recently created a tape with the same effects of hearing voices and Smith purchases it. Eager to experience his father’s trouble, he takes the tape out onto a busy Manhattan street and begins to listen. At first, the tape merely produces white noise; murmuring, static, heartbeats, and heavy breathing. Though as the tape continued, Smith began to hear a soft gentle woman’s voice whispering to him. It encouraged him and praised him. Smith deduced that it was a stimulant of religious voices, supposedly similar to the ones Joan of Arc had heard.
The book goes on to describe how difficult it was just to place an order at a fast food restaurant with the voices tape. I personally find this whole experience fascinating and am dying to try it out.