Braveliver is a guide to living and working with bipolar disorder, or manic depression. The author provides practical everyday advice that is a result of decades of living with the condition.

It is also a celebration of Elmer Fisher, the (most certainly) bipolar architect who rebuilt Seattle after the Great Fire of 1889 and laid the groundwork for Seattle to become the city that it is today. Elmer Fisher designed and oversaw the construction of over 50 Romanesque Revival stone and brick buildings in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. While the other architects at the time were building 2 or 3 buildings, Elmer built a reported 54 buildings, and he did it in about 18 months. It was an incredible feat but because of various circumstances, he fell out of favor and disappeared into obscurity.

Braveliver also contains a walking map of the remaining Elmer Fisher buildings scattered around the Pacific Northwest. Elmer and his beautiful buildings serve as an example of the positive power of manic energy.

Most of the author's story is told in short story form, like his previous book, the Scottish Buddhist Cookbook, Another Book of Mormon.