Antidepressants can be wonder drugs for some people but in my case they made me manic as hell and ruined my life for a few months. Make sure you get screened for bipolar before you go on them.
My teacher used Spivak in my high school calculus class. It went way over my head. But I re-read it every five years or so and pick up new things every time.
Japan has deficit-spent more than the United States as of late. Japan has problems, but an existential loss of trust in the central government and failure of state capacity are not among them. They have bullet trains.