Shane Anderson's book appeared in my store. I don't know how it came to me but as I was restacking on a glum June day, I found it, After the Oracle Or: How the Golden State Warriors' Four Core Values Can Change Your Life Like They Changed Mine (Deep Vellum, 2021). It's an unmistakably self-helpy title and I don't have any connection to basketball, but I was intrigued about the author. Shane and I both lived in Berlin for the same long stretch, give or take a year. We never met but we are contemporaries. I wanted to read about his life in this city. I wanted to see if his sentiments matched my own. As I read, I learned that they did and that he was sunk into a place of almost inescapable darkness. WARNING: THIS INTERVIEW & SHANE'S BOOK MENTIONS ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Shane's rock bottom led him to a path of dedication to self improvement. He focused on the values of Joy, Mindfulness, Compassion and Competition which were also followed by his favorite basketball team. It sounds simple and hoaky but because of who Shane is--a sensitive writer, an intellectual contemporary who is laying bare his struggles and how he found an answer--I believe his book might be a lifeline for people who think they're too jaded for lifelines.