“Nothing happens in a vacuum.” So begins Long Story Short, a collection of one hundred absorbing stories from clinical psychologist Dennis Upper’s life. A vivid and thoughtful evocation of personal experiences, the tales in this engaging volume are long and short, funny and sad, trivial and profound. From his first childhood memory to his last day at Yale, and from running the Boston Marathon to dealing with a patient’s suicide, these absorbing narratives show how all the brief and important moments in life help us each to develop and grow. The images, sensations, and stories might be unique, but the premise that binds the strands of Upper’s life together is the simple love of storytelling. By showing that we are all shaped by our individual life experiences, Long Story Short probes the importance of memories and how writing about them leads to personal growth.