He Wanted the Moon tells the story of a brilliant Harvard Graduate, Dr. Perry Baird. Although accomplished Dr. Baird suffered from Manic Depression, a mental illness now known as Bipolar Disorder. The book is split into roughly two parts, the first being a memoir that the author, and Dr. Baird’s daughter, Mimi Baird reconstructed out of his notes, journals, letters and medical records. Around 1944 Dr. Baird, then a successful dermatologist and medical researcher, fell into an abysmal manic episode, one from which he would never recover. He was admitted into Westborough State Hospital, a mental institution, where he was subject to the many cruel treatments of that time including, straightjackets, isolation and cold packs. None of these cured