The gift of adversity: the unexpected benefits of life's difficulties, setbacks, and imperfections

Part I. Youth. The thumbs must go 
 An accident 
 Crime and punishment 
 The persistence and fragility of memory 
 Know your brain 
 Know your body 
 Be yourself 
 The weight of history 
 Mrs. Brown\'s \"Rular\" 
 All the lonely people 
 Lena and Lucas 
 Lessons from a fly 
 The fixer 
 The long reach of sexual trauma 
 Trouble with my father 
 Mysteries of mood 
 Medical school 
 A brush with the South African police 
 A brutal attack 
 Born again 
 Boot camp and the kindness of strangers 
 Homeland 
 Namibia 
 Leaving home --
Part II. Adulthood. New York City 
 Hostile takeover 
 Supervising a supervisor 
 What are the questions? 
 Leaving the NIMH 
 Losing and choosing 
 Pride and prejudice and sociopaths 
 Lessons from a scam 
 A ghost from the past 
 Don\'t hold on to grudges 
 Hold on to dreams 
 Taking responsibility 
 Reciprocity in relationships 
 Learning something from everyone 
 Telling a story 
 The gift of meditation 
 By force of habit 
 The quest for excellence --
Part III. Heroes. Death in the desert 
 High-stakes negotiations at midnight 
 A cousin in trouble 
 Meeting with Viktor Frankl --
Part IV. Farewells. A patriarch takes his leave 
 Dad\'s last day 
 The death of Galadriel 
 Appointment in Samarra 
 Life after death 
 It\'s never too late to say \"I love you.\"