I, too have read various BP/Mental Illness memoirs, including "Girl, Interrupted", Eden Express, An Unquiet Mind, The Quiet Room, Manic, and The Center Cannot Hold.  I found each of these books didn't really go far enough into the nuts and bolts of being manic/bipolar. So I, like one of the other people who answered you, am writing a book geared towards helping family and friends to understand the way a manic mind works. My working title is I Thought I Was A Mermaid, since one of my delusions was that I was a mermaid.  In my book, I explain things that the other books didn't (at least from my perspective), including how my voices started and exactly what they sounded like and said; how I became persuaded that I was a mermaid; the talking fish at Cabela's (a sports store), and the talking blood pressure machine at the hospital emergency room.  My family as well as my nurse friends found the stuff in my book very very helpful because it gives them insight into the (from their perspective) manic's bizarre actions.  My actions all made sense when they saw my point of view. This insight into the nuts and bolts of a manic's mind is probably the most useful feature of my book that isn't covered in any of the other books I've read. I'm half done with my memoir,but I explore the same concepts in my blog, including how delusions work and what it's like to ge involuntarily committed to a mental hospital at crazymer1.wordpress.com. I hope this helps.