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In the take-two-books-and-call-me-in-the-morning department, John Lupia writes: The Wall Street Journal Monday morning reported on the *front* page about "bibliotherapists" who offer personalized prescriptions (identifying what to read) for depression and other maladies. Books! Wonderful story! I saw this one, too. Great idea! Here's an excerpt. -Editor
 Depressed? Over-the-counter remedies abound, though some are hard to swallow. The 272-page “City of Thieves” by David Benioff, for example.
It is one palliative prescribed by Mano Bouzamour at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, where he sat at a desk sporting a white doctor’s coat and stethoscope. The Dutch novelist, who has no medical license, was serving as a “book doctor.” After brief consultations with people who lined up in the cold drizzle outside a pop-up clinic, he pulled out a prescription pad and scribbled titles to alleviate readers’ woes. “You need ‘The 25th Hour’,” he told an enervated university student, referring to a novel by Mr. Benioff. “Great story. Punchy dialogue. A drug dealer gets sentenced to prison,” said Mr. Bouzamour, who recommended any Benioff title to cure listlessness and the blues.  Mr. Bouzamour’s act is part of a growing movement among bibliophiles who put the “script” in prescription by treating problems with personalized book recommendations. Unaffiliated with
bookstores, these consultants—often called bibliotherapists—talk to clients about issues and suggest books they think can help. Consultations and recommendations go for varying fees, usually
excluding the books themselves.
“We genuinely believe novels are a powerful thing,” said Susan Elderkin, a U.K. bibliotherapist. “People can glean a lot from a novel that can stay with [them] in a resonant way.” Hmmm. It would be fun to set someone up with a table at a coin show to field questions from the public and dispense numismatic book recommendations. -Editor
To read the complete article (subscription required), see:  Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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