There are many books about illness, but very few writers convey the courage and hope of battling a chronic illness as eloquently as Jim Lang. "Learning Sickness" is the compelling narrative of Jim s battle with Crohn s Disease. Diagnosed at the age of 26, Jim spent the next five years coming to terms with how to live with a chronic illness. During that time he fathered two children, earned a Ph.D., accepted his first teaching position, and launched a writing career. Jim Lang provides an absolutely unflinching look at the way the disease can penetrate into every aspect of a person's life: physical, emotional, and spiritual. He tackles the most sensitive areas of the disease with grace and skill, and wraps it all into a gripping narrative of illness and recovery that demonstrates how suffering can produce a special kind of wisdom.

This book will help millions of Americans, and countless others around the globe, understand they do not suffer alone, and it will provide friends, families, and colleagues of sufferers with their first real glimpse into the toll the disease can take on their lives.REVIEWS "Jim provides a look at the way disease can penetrate into every aspect of a person s life. His gripping narrative of illness and recovery demonstrates how suffering can produce a special kind of wisdom. Recommended to anyone seeking to understand the depth of human experience through memoir."The Messenger newspaper, The Messenger newspaper, 2005/10".