Always Looking Up by Michael J Fox

'At the turn from my bedroom into the hallway leading to the kitchen there is an old full-length mirror in a wooden frame. I can't help but catch a glimpse of myself as I pass, and turning myself towards the glass, I consider what I see. This reflected version of myself, wet, shaking, rumpled, slightly stooped, and pinched, would be alarming if it were not for the self-satisfied expression pasted across the face, I would ask the obvious question, 'What are you smiling about?' - but I already know the answer ...it just gets better from here.' Struck with Parkinson's - a debilitating, degenerative disease - at the height of his fame, Fox has taken what some people might consider cause for depression and turned it into a beacon of hope for millions. Now, in Always Looking Up, he writes about the personal philosophy that carried him through his darkest hours, and speaks with others who have emerged from difficult periods with optimism to spare. With the humour and wit that dazzled fans and reviewers alike in his bestselling memoir, Lucky Man, Fox shows how he became a happier, more satisfied person by recognising the gifts of everyday life.

I enjoyed this book ... it wasn't a speedy read, but it was interesting. I like Michael J Fox, I think as a kid growing up in the 80s, how could you not? It's nto really like an autobiography or anything because it just takes a portion of his life. And it was less interesting I guess because we didn't see half the stuff that went on in America, and I'm not especially aware of the American Political process (other than presidential elections). I will say tho, that I think he's doing amazing things ... and I don't know where I stand on the whole "all-out science thing", I mean in a sense I'm all for it, discover everything you can about us and the world we live in and make advances to the way we live, but in another sense I take a bit of a step back with regard to just what it means to save everyone and cure everything and have people living forever. I think science has changed the way we live quite incredibly already, hell, we live to 80 or 90 now instead of 40 or 50 (well, some of us anyway). And that all adds up to financial strain on families and over population. So yeah, I'm not thinking too much about it really.