Sheff s story is a first: a teenager s addiction from the parent s point of view a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Before meth, Sheff s son Nic was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets.read more

Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age eleven. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and Ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise.read more

Is someone else's problem your problem? If, like so many others, you've lost sight of your own life in the drama of tending to someone else's, you may be codependent-and you may find yourself in this book.read more

When Mötley Crüe was at the height of its fame, there wasn't any drug Nikki Sixx wouldn't do. He spent days -- sometimes alone, sometimes with other addicts, friends, and lovers -- in a coke and heroin-fueled daze. The highs were high, and Nikki's journal entries reveal some euphoria and joy. But the lows were lower, often ending with Nikki in his closet, surrounded by drug paraphernalia and wrapped in paranoid delusions.read more

Anne Lamott claims the two best prayers she knows are: "Help me, help me, help me" and "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She has a friend whose morning prayer each day is "Whatever," and whose evening prayer is "Oh, well." Anne thinks of Jesus as "Casper the friendly savior" and describes God as "one crafty mother."read more

It's more than a book. It's a way of life.
The long-awaited fourth edition features 24 new personal stories of recovery.read more

Ten years ago, Janet Woititz broke new ground in our understanding of what it is to be an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. Today she re-examines the movement and its inclusion of Adult Children from various dysfunctional family backgrounds who share the same characteristics. After more than ten years of working with ACoAs she shares the recovery hints that she has found to work. Read Adult Children of Alcoholics to see where the journey began and for ideas on where to go from here.read more

If you have ever lived with an addict or alcoholic, this book gives you inspiration and courage to learn how to be independent in your growth as a person.read more

Originally published in 1952, this classic book is used by A.A. members and groups around the world. It lays out the principles by which A.A. members recover and by which the fellowship functions. The basic text clarifies the Steps which constitute the A.A. way of life and the Traditions, by which A.A. maintains its unity.read more

At the age of 19, Burroughs becomes an ad copywriter in New York City, earning an ungodly amount of money, and pouring most of it down his throat. Augusten’s skills as an advertising writer are manifested in this slick, yet unfeigned account of his continuing malfunctional journey from his adolescence through his third decade of life. Burroughs is a hard core, drink till you drop kind of guy and makes no bones about it. He doesn’t play martyr, nor does he underplay the life threatening pattern of his addiction. He does, however, write candidly yet comically about his alcoholism, his rehab adventures, the death of a former lover and a relationship with another addict whose repeated attempts at recovery are less than successful.read more

“The Lost Years” is written in a kind of “mother-daughter” dialogue format. Kristina describes an event or situation in her life and then her mother describes her version of the same circumstance, thereby creating two sometimes similar, sometimes opposing views on the ruination not only of a young girl, but on her siblings, parents and entire family as well.read more

For nearly a decade, The Addictive Personality has helped people understand the process of addiction. Now, through this second edition, author Craig Nakken brings new depth and dimension to our understanding of how an individual becomes an addict. Going beyond the definition that limits dependency to the realm of alcohol and other drugs, Nakken uncovers the common denominator of all addiction and describes how the process is progressive.read more

the titular Leonard, the larger-than-life Vegas mobster ("West Coast Director of a large Italian finance firm") whom James befriended in rehab, steps into the story and serves equal parts unlikely life coach, guardian angel, and father figure for the grief-stricken author, adopting him as his "son" and schooling him in the fine art of "living boldly":
Be not bold, be f-cking BOLD. Every time you meet someone, make a f-cking impression. Make them think you're the hottest shit in the world. Make them think they're gonna lose their job if they don't give you one. Look 'em in the eye, and never look away. Be confident and calm, be f-cking bold.read more

If alcoholics and addicts won't accept help until they're ready, what gets them ready? This book provides an answer in clear, concise terms. Dispelling two damaging myths -- that an addict has to hit bottom and that intervention must be confrontational -- the authors' proven approach puts love first and shows families, step by step, what to do next.read more

Resentment. Fear. Self-Pity. Intolerance. Anger. This cast of character defects will undermine the best-laid plans for recovery from addiction. It's not uncommon for individuals in recovery to hang on to negative, self-defeating behaviors after they've given up their addiction. These are the "rocks" that can sink recovery - or, at the least, block further progress.read more

Here is Gerald May's brilliant and now classic exploration of the psychology and physiology of addiction. It offers an inspiring and hope-filled vision for those who desire to explore the mystery of who and what they really are. May examines the "processes of attachment" that lead to addiction and describes the relationship between addiction and spiritual awareness. He also details the various addictions from which we can suffer, not only to substances like alcohol and drugs, but to work, sex, performance, responsibility, and intimacy.read more

An extremely informative book which does not offer a plan for getting sober but does offer us sound advice about how to stay sober. Basic, essential information from Alcoholics Anonymous. As the book states, "Anyone can get sober. . .the trick is to live sober."read more

At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings: recalling the first time she attempted to speak directly to God, she says, "It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work.'"read more

“Happy 15th birthday to one of the great classics of mind/body medicine! More than any other, Full Catastrophe Living is the book that enabled Americans to discover the inner life. This book has brought peace of mind to hundreds and thousands of people and healed countless lives. This is your chance to let it heal yours.” –Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdomread more

Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as "liquid armor," a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.read more

Jennifer Storm’s account of her dark and disturbing journey through her teens is a horrifying narrative of her tortured youth, and her pin-ball life choices which landed her in situations which were more than disturbing to me as the reader. On page 3, she describes her first rape at the age of 12, and the next three quarters of the book is a chronicle of her cataclysmic demise, almost to the point of annihilation. I have read my share of stories of addiction and Ms. Storm’s tale is among the most unnerving I have read in a while. I don’t know if it was because she was so young when these events occurred or whether her raw, simple style of writing was such a direct contrast to the heinous worlds she inhabited.read more

Austin-based journalists Patoski and Crawford pen a rousing account of Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died at age 35 in a 1990 helicopter crash. The Dallas-born Vaughan began playing electric guitar in imitation of older brother Jimmie, who founded the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Both brothers were fixtures of the 1960s and '70s Austin scene, which spawned such rock acts as ZZ Top and allowed Stevie Ray to form his own band, Double Trouble. Vaughan's biggest break was playing on David Bowie's 1983 Let's Dance album; when he brazenly rejected Bowie's offer to tour, he garnered music-industry notice. Later, as his career skyrocketed, Vaughan abused cocaine and whiskey.read more

Beckman, whose out-of-control drinking and drugging lasted more than a decade before he got sober at age 24, uses his story to illustrate the book’s fundamental message that recovery at a young age is very different from recovery in adulthood. "We get clean at 20 and feel like we’re still 13 emotionally," he writes. Clean is the real thing: an honest, nonjudgmental, peer-to-peer lifeline for young people thinking about experimenting with drugs, for those who are already experimenting or those who are already addicted, and for families and friends who want to understand and help.read more

Among those profiled are comedian Richard Pryor, musicians Grace Slick, Dr. John, and Chuck Negron, actors Malcolm McDowell and Mariette Hartley, and athletes Dock Ellis and Gerry Cooney. Addiction devoured their pride and accomplishments until each found the courage to ask for help, the honesty to face their disease, and the strength--ultimately--to rebuild a life of extraordinary success. Here, legendary Los Angeles publicist Gary Stromberg gives readers an up-close look at fame and addiction, as told by the stars themselves. These are stories of greatness rebuilt--one day at a time.read more

A long-awaited look at the unsung story of Lois Wilson, wife of the famously anonymous Bill W. Acclaimed author and screenwriter William G. Borchert does a masterful job in revealing the life and times of this spirited and determined woman, exploring the tender emotional territory beyond Loiss role in the formation of AA and the subsequent creation of Al-Anon.read more

His account of his initial rehab at the Hazelden Institute and his recurring relapses, his first marriage and eventual divorce, and his second marriage to Allison, whom he met at Hazelden, are the stuff of which the human experience is made. In the first part of the book Moyers description of his experiences sometimes sound a bit contrived, but in the second half of the book he tells it like it is. No fluffy metaphors here. He’s a crack addict and the readers can almost breathe in the stench of the cavities where he goes to get high and taste the rot of the pipe in their soul.read more

"Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us."read more

As she tugs and pokes out the knots in a slender gold chain necklace, it becomes a metaphor for letting go and learning to forgive. "…any willingness to let go inevitably comes from pain; and the desire to change changes you, and jiggles the spirit, gets to it somehow, to the deepest, hardest, most ruined parts." It's her willingness to show us the knotted-up, "ruined parts" of her life that make this collection of sometimes uneven essays so compelling.read more

Writer (and sometime housecleaner) Jennifer is twenty-three when her beloved father, Wallace, is diagnosed with a brain tumor. This catastrophic discovery sets off Anne Lamott's unexpectedly sweet and funny first novel, which is made dramatic not so much by Wallace's illness as by the emotional wake it sweeps under Jen and her brothers, self-contained Ben and feckless, lovable Randy.read more

Crooked Little Heart asks big questions in intimate ways: What keeps a family together? What are the small heartbreaks that tear at the fabric of our lives? What happens to grief when it goes underground? And what road must we walk with our flawed and crooked hearts?read more

The book was self-published in 2002 by Dave Breslin, who, at the time of publication, was about 2/1/2 years clean and sober. Breslin got sober at the age of 19 and writes that he wasn’t even aware that he could be suffering from alcoholism at such a young age. He thought he was just being “a normal teenage kid”, but the depression that ensued when he stopped drinking made him acutely aware that he was battling much more than the average teen-ager. He discovered that he was a young alcoholic and that he was “an alcoholic destroying myself from the inside out.” That’s when he started to write. The book is divided into 3 sections, each reflecting a different phase of his recovery.read more

Refusing to accept what they consider to be the outmoded myths and dogma of Alcoholics Anonymous, Lilian and Murdoch set about searching for the underlying causes of their self-harming behaviour problem, which they discovered lay in childhood. Although Lilian and Murdoch's upbringing caused their problems, they themselves take full responsibility for their drinking, most importantly because taking responsibility for one's own actions is the starting point on the road to recovery.read more

It is an increasingly rare occasion these days to find two writers willing to speak candidly, thoughtfully, and concretely about the intersection of life and art. And that these two writers happen to be Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer makes Like Shaking Hands With God a truly historic and joyous occasion. The setting is a bookstore in New York City in October 1998. Before a crowd of several hundred, Vonnegut and Stringer jump into the aesthetic fray, taking up humanity, writing, salvation, art, and the challenge of living, day to day.read more

In the underground tunnels below Grand Central Terminal, Lee Stringer -- homeless and drug-addicted over the course of eleven years -- found a pencil to run through his crack pipe. One day, he used it to write. Soon, writing became a habit that won out over drugs. And soon, Lee Stringer had created one of the most powerful urban memoirs of our time.read more

Stringer, after having been raised in foster care, is returned to his biological mother at the age of 6, and is moved to a mostly white suburb, where mom hopes life will be better. Life in foster care has taken its toll on the young boy and anger issues emerge as Lee tries to “fit in.” His violent behavior lands him in “Hawthorne Cedar Knolls School”, a sleep away school for young boys in crisis. Being a “state funded” kid in a mostly privately funded environment, Stringer is once again marked as an intruder, and his normal defense mechanisms eventually lead him to a psychiatric hospital where he is admitted for observation. His description of this event evokes a sense of sadness at the acceptance of his situation. “…being locked down on a ward full of madmen wasn’t really the scary thing…The scariest thing of all though, was discovering the sublime satisfaction that I got out of life in a bathrobe. How willingly my desire for anything more than that had surrendered to the allure of blissful nothingness.”read more

Kennedys don't cry. And they don't write tell-all books. So this memoir breaks new ground... Lawford, son of actor Peter Lawford and Patricia Lawford, Rose and Joe's sixth child, uses the family primarily as a backdrop to his own drug-filled, angst-driven life.read more