The Chair and the Valley
A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and the Outdoors
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Narrated by:
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Banning Lyon
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Jonathan Eig
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Maria Shriver
About this listen
"Bracing, brilliant, and fury-inducing.... a survival story like no other. With positively outstanding storytelling, this is a book that cannot be put down."—Booklist, starred review
AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER
One of Booklist’s Best Memoirs of 2024
One of Booklist Editors' Choice Adult Books for Young Adults, 2024
Banning Lyon was an average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX. He enjoyed skateboarding, listening to punk rock, and even had a part-time job. But in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counselor falsely believed he was suicidal after giving away his skateboard. Days later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and what he was told would be a two-week stay turned into 353 days that would change his life forever.
Banning takes listeners through his fraught relationship with his family, the mistreatment he suffered at the hospital, the lawsuit against the owners of the facility, and his desire to make sense of what happened to him. We witness Banning navigate the difficult landscape of trauma and his daily battle to live a normal life. After years of highs and lows that include being adopted by his attorney and mentor, falling in love and grieving the death of his fiancée, and being sued by the same doctors who mistreated him, Banning decides to take control of his life and finds hope in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park, where he discovers new purpose in being a backpacking guide. Through friendship, nature, and eventually giving therapy another chance, Banning summons the courage to keep moving forward.
The Chair and The Valley is a raw, gut-wrenching, and amazing story about healing from trauma and starting over. It is an exploration of the importance of chosen family, the restorative power of nature, and the strength it takes to build a new life in the face of fear and doubt.
©2024 Banning Lyon (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"It’s hard not to become overcome with fury by the injustice Banning experienced when he was a teen… That Lyon found the courage to grab happiness after decades of darkness transforms this devastating memoir into an inspiring read."—People
“Banning Lyon’s story is a testament to the power of found family and the hard-earned resilience that can come over time with love.”—Maria Shriver
“What a beautiful, challenging, difficult, and ultimately empowering book. It's impossible to read The Chair and the Valley without feeling moved.”—Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness of Pursuit and The Art of Non-Conformity
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Don’t bother
- By B. Sharpe on 10-30-22
By: Brendon Burchard
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Self Help
- This Is Your Chance to Change Your Life
- By: Gabrielle Bernstein, Richard C. Schwartz - foreword
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Bernstein, Richard C. Schwartz - foreword
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Are you ready to unlock the greatest resource of your life? Gabby Bernstein has written the ultimate self-help guide, offering a revolutionary practice to radically shift your core beliefs and connect you to an infallible inner guidance system: the energy of Self within you. In this groundbreaking book, Gabby demystifies the power of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, taking its life-changing teachings out of the therapist’s office and into your everyday life.
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Self Serving
- By pricefreund on 01-14-25
By: Gabrielle Bernstein, and others
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12 Months to $1 Million
- How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur
- By: Ryan Daniel Moran
- Narrated by: Ryan Daniel Moran
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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By cutting out the noise and providing a clear and proven plan, this road map helps even brand-new entrepreneurs make decisions quickly, get their product up for sale, and launch it to a crowd that is ready and waiting to buy. This one-year plan will guide you through the three stages to your first $1 million: the Grind (months 0-4), the Growth (months 5-8), and the Gold (months 9-12). If your goal is to be a full-time entrepreneur, get ready for one chaotic, stressful, and rewarding year. If you have the guts to complete it, you will be the proud owner of a million-dollar business.
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Good, but a Little Misleading
- By Chris Love on 11-28-20
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The Daily Stoic
- 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- By: Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Why have history's greatest minds - from George Washington to Frederick the Great to Ralph Waldo Emerson along with today's top performers, from Super Bowl-winning football coaches to CEOs and celebrities - embraced the wisdom of the ancient Stoics? Because they realize that the most valuable wisdom is timeless and that philosophy is for living a better life, not a classroom exercise. The Daily Stoic offers a daily devotional of Stoic insights and exercises, featuring all-new translations.
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Not well made as audio
- By Andreas on 12-27-16
By: Ryan Holiday, and others
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You Will Not Recognize Your Life
- By: Micaela Blei
- Narrated by: Micaela Blei
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
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It’s 2006. After a string of rejections from men who tell her they could never, ever, ever see her “that way,” awkward third-grade teacher Micaela Blei signs up for a mysterious course called “The Divine Feminine,” and feels like she might have found the key to the perfect life. Turns out if you’re an A student, you can get an A in anything–including men. Pretty soon she’s learning to "conjure" her desires with vision boards, flirtations, and even a daring jumbotron viewing party for her, ahem ... "divine center."
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This is about real life.
- By Justin Ortgies on 12-14-24
By: Micaela Blei
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Deep Sleep Hypnosis: Fall Asleep Instantly and Sleep Well
- By: Jasmine Harris
- Narrated by: Allison Mason
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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A lack of quality sleep can hinder your alertness and quality of life while awake, as anyone with sleeping issues already knows. Suffering through sleepless nights does not have to be your reality. Instead you can fall asleep fast and get quality sleep tonight and every night. Hypnosis has been used for centuries to cure many ailments, including the inability to get better sleep. You can help yourself improve the quality of your life with hypnotherapy.
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put me right to sleep
- By Cassandra on 05-08-17
By: Jasmine Harris
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How to Say It: Words That Make a Difference
- By: Allison Friederichs Atkison, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Allison Friederichs Atkison
- Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
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Words. We use them all the time, every day, mostly without giving them much thought at all. We take for granted that they’re here at our disposal whenever we need them. But if you’ve ever wished you could communicate more effectively, words are the place to start. It’s incumbent upon you to choose the best words to accomplish your goals, because how you choose to communicate influences—well, everything! The power of communication shapes our professional goals, our relationships, and our lives—so the words we choose to use carry a great deal of power.
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Meh. Glad I didn't pay for it.
- By Paula on 07-23-22
By: Allison Friederichs Atkison, and others
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How to Train Your Mind
- Exploring the Productivity Benefits of Meditation
- By: Chris Bailey
- Narrated by: Chris Bailey
- Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
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Meditation makes you more productive because it lets you earn back time. For each minute you spend meditating, you'll earn around nine minutes back, as Chris Bailey - author of The Productivity Project and Hyperfocus - will show in this candid and counter-intuitive guide to the productivity benefits of meditation.
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Started Listening By Accident
- By T.D.Willis on 01-17-21
By: Chris Bailey
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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
- A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed
- By: Lori Gottlieb
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
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It was like a hallmark movie being waterboarded into my ears for 15 hours
- By Amazon Customer on 10-01-19
By: Lori Gottlieb
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F*ck Him!
- Nice Girls Always Finish Single
- By: Brian Keephimattracted, Brian Nox
- Narrated by: Jerod McBrayer
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The MANipulator manual. Keep your man interested and begging for more without playing games. So many women get in trouble in their love lives, and 99.9 percent of that trouble could have been avoided if they'd said "Well, f**k him!" a bit more often. Too many women are way too nice and compliant to their men, especially when these men don't deserve that kind of treatment. I, as a dating coach and author of books for women who want to get men, cannot take it anymore.
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...
- By Emma R. on 02-01-18
By: Brian Keephimattracted, and others
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Worthy
- How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life
- By: Jamie Kern Lima
- Narrated by: Jamie Kern Lima
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Jamie Kern Lima's first, instant New York Times bestselling book Believe It, captured her journey of going from Denny's waitress to billion-dollar entrepreneur by learning to believe in herself. And now her second, much-anticipated, upcoming book Worthy, is the playbook for how YOU can believe in YOU! If you've ever struggled with self-doubt, felt like you don't have what it takes...or that who you truly are isn't enough, even if you're really good at hiding it from the world, WORTHY is for you.
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💫 We're so WORTHY! 🦋 Listen - Read - Share 🔆
- By Diana Yin on 02-22-24
By: Jamie Kern Lima
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Models
- Attract Women Through Honesty
- By: Mark Manson
- Narrated by: Austin Rising
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Models is the first book ever written on seduction as an emotional process rather than a logical one, a process of connecting with women rather than impressing them. It's the most mature and honest guide on how a man can attract women without faking behavior, without lying and without emulating others. A game-changer.
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The content is great but the reader is awful
- By Mark Speener on 06-24-14
By: Mark Manson
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Ho Tactics
- How to MindF**k a Man into Spending, Spoiling, and Sponsoring
- By: G. L. Lambert
- Narrated by: Patrick Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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I have discovered a group of women who refuse to be exploited, are immune to manipulation, and who never settle in the name of love. These ladies know what they want and take what they want by beating men at their own game. Utilizing the secrets exposed in this book, these women gain power, money, and status. Men call them gold diggers, women call them hos, but they call themselves winners. This is the book that society doesn't want you to listen to….
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I spent $24,000 in 4 months
- By B.M. on 10-06-18
By: G. L. Lambert
What listeners say about The Chair and the Valley
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- Faith
- 07-13-24
Powerful story
I feel like I need to think about the book and reflect more. I really enjoyed listening to Banning's story.
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- Mike Duret
- 06-18-24
The narration brings this incredible story to life
The Chair and the Valley promises the reader an extraordinary story of trauma and healing. It delivers!
Banning’s journey from abandonment and abuse to forgiveness and healing is incredible, and he is a wonderfully relatable storyteller. His narration is spot-on and brings places and people to life with unflinching and beautiful honesty–from the rooms of the corrupt psychiatric hospital all the way to the wild beauty of Yosemite. I cried. I raged. I cheered. I was completely transported. In the end, I came away with a deep sense of gratitude and hope.
Most of us have never stepped foot in a psychiatric hospital nor hiked one mile in Yosemite, but we have had obstacles and needed help to heal. With this book, Banning Lyon shines a bright light on the darkness of despair, and he shows us all a path forward through the healing power of love and friendship. What a gift. I cannot recommend this audiobook strongly enough.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-06-24
The tragic tale of unfettered capitalism
This is a beautifully written story of a young man who was abused by the culture of capitalism. He was a victim of one of the biggest medical scams in our country. It has a happy ending because he was finally able to rise above his tragic youth.
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- Cameron lasonde
- 07-26-24
like looking in a mirror
I have never related to someone more. this book didn't change my life, but supported the changes I am already going through. I hope to meet this man one day so I can shake his hand and thank him for sharing his story. This book has filled me courage and validation that I am moving forward to better days always. Thank you Banning Lyon just thank you.
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- Zack Berman
- 08-08-24
Incredibly Moving
Banning Lyon writes his life story so beautifully. I’m in awe at all that he overcame, and continues to overcome. What a gift that he chose to write this book, offering his perspective to the world.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-17-24
To listen is to be known
While you may not see yourself in every aspect of Banning’s story, any person will find the most human parts of themselves in many pieces. To read this book is to have those vulnerable parts of yourself known — to feel not alone in your own humanity. Gripping and healing, tragic and joyous, ‘The Chair and The Valley’ reminds us what impacts each of us can have on our own, and each other’s lives… if only we choose to make the difference.
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- Eric Johnson
- 09-10-24
The best explanation of the power of forgiveness
This book was one of the most impactful pieces I have ever read. It struck me on so many levels, from the descriptions of what it felt like as a teenager, the pain of being abandoned by his family, and the peaks and valleys that came throughout the story. I have been struggling to forgive people my entire life, and this book showed me that forgiveness can be one of the most freeing experiences in trauma. I would urge anyone that holds onto the past to listen or read this book. The author truly suffered at the hands of many, but found the path to inner peace and growth.
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- Olivia
- 06-10-24
Beautiful, Raw, Heartbreaking
Finished this book in only a few sittings. Was completely gripped, flooded with emotion, and so moved
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- M. Nunes
- 08-30-24
Wow
It's not often that I enjoy a book this much that was, at times, difficult to get through and infuriating. I'm also very picky about narrators and the author did an amazing job!
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- Jason G
- 07-20-24
Incredible story of healing
This story moved me deeply. The author himself narrates and that really makes it personal. It’s inspiring but not in a dramatic way…it’s the slow healing and the clock running out on holding the shame and anger that is so profound. I highly recommend reading this book!
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