Confessions of the Unmedicated Mind, Volume 1: Home

Book excerpt: There have been books about ADHD before, but nothing quite like this funny ebook series. Undiscovered author Benjamin Tomes outlines the distinct line between discovery and origin as he details a childhood impacted by ADHD in a world not yet familiar with the disorder. Many have treated ADHD as a pandemic that sprang from nowhere, sapping the attention spans of scores of school-aged children. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet few have delved into our past to examine instances of the disorder before it was recognized by modern medicine. This humorous memoir entertains while it recounts life in the 1970's and 1980's, before anyone had ever heard of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. In his four part humorous memoir entitled Confessions of the Unmedicated Mind, Tomes provides an unprecedented firsthand account of ADHD. His take on a childhood impacted by the focus disorder and dysfunctional family is as hilarious as it is poignant, albeit not for the faint of heart. Despite home tumult and academic failure, Tomes would go on to become an award winning coach and successful teacher, providing an interesting perspective on an unlikely ascent from rural miscreant to urban legend. Set primarily in the small towns of Northern Wisconsin, Tomes uses heavy handed humor to deliver blunt force drama drawn from his personal war on boredom. His birth to twenty-one account is broken into four key areas and the series is issued in volumes along those lines. Volume 1: Home Home reads like a self-written psych report, detailing family idiosyncrasies, dalliances with girls, experimentation with alcohol and meandering through life without regard; as well as a potential road to redemption. Along the way, fish are thrown at tourists, prank calls are made, children are led astray in church, a bowling alley is defiled and socially challenged relatives are antagonized. Nothing is sacred as Tomes spins a classic piece of humorous non-fiction with his true stories of bad behavior. In vivid detail, Tomes recounts his dysfunctional childhood, the genetic roots of his ADHD, the influence of ill behaved cousins and extended family, his parent's awkward religious beliefs, and a laundry list of bad behavior, stunts, pranks, and a life heavily influenced by a chronic intolerance of boredom.