Straight Pepper Diet

A Memoir

By: Joseph W. Naus

Narrated by: Joseph W. Naus

Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Joseph W. Naus was living the American dream. He'd survived a brutal childhood, graduated from Pepperdine Law School, and become a successful attorney. Then one night his American dream life became a nightmare when his sex and alcohol addictions collided and exploded.

"On Tuesday I was a respected civil trial lawyer making six figures. On Wednesday I woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed, charged with attempted murder...and then it got worse."

Straight Pepper Diet is a book about surviving one's own wreckage. It's harrowing, sometimes hilarious, and surprisingly hope-filled.

©2015 Joseph W. Naus (P)2016 Joseph W. Naus

This is an autobiography of a racist sex offender

Listening to this one wonders why this guy didn't get charged with sexually motivated hate crimes against women of color. The way he gleefully objectifies Asian women is disgusting enough but wait there's more. He describes drunkenly luring a young Black female bartender into going to Vegas with him and enjoys humiliating her by defacing her almost as much as he enjoys painfully sodomizing her only to joke about the awkward ride home after. It's truly disgusting to listen to, especially considering that he felt he did not deserve to be humiliated sexually or brutalized in prison. Think of all the people who are brutalized in prison who have done far less harm than him. Does he really think all those prostitutes were at the age of consent? That they did not suffer terribly for his thrills? He describes all the women of color as people he f...d and the white girls as angels he made love to who were so pure. This guy is a racist sex offender and its sad that white privilege kept him out of the much longer and harsher sentence he deserves. Also, for someone who is college-educated he does not come across as such. Stupid mistakes in the book such as referring to the DSM as the DSSM undermine his attempts to sound intelligent.

Riveting, Relevant, and Raw

What made the experience of listening to Straight Pepper Diet the most enjoyable?

Joseph's transformation from degenerate to spiritually enlightened is inspiring. He is so honest, so vulnerable and open to judgment, it's truly admirable. It doesn't matter that he'll disgust you at first because you will be able to empathize with the circumstances that led him to deplorable behavior, and you will be proud of him when he frees himself from it.

What other book might you compare Straight Pepper Diet to and why?

I've read other memoirs about addiction and transformation, but nothing like this. SPD made me feel a gamut of positive and negative emotions, which is what books should do.

What does Joseph W. Naus bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Having the story read by the author makes him feel very real, like I was one of his friends or exes. It was great to have his voice contribute to the overall picture of the narrator. His honest thoughts in his own voice maintain the story's authenticity and, again, make him real and likable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES

Any additional comments?

I expected to hate this book. I bought it because I was married to someone like Joseph and I wanted to understand him better. In the end, I don't know if it helped me with that--my ex may very well be a sociopath and Joseph is not-- but I found value in the story anyway. I would read it again and strongly recommend it if you like memoirs.

Great listen

Booze, sex, addiction and breaking the law. I laughed. I cringed. I was able to think back on stupid things I've done. Nothing to this extent but still pretty stupid stuff. This is a great memoir and I really enjoyed the author narrator. He wrote his story what better person to read it right?

Totally engrossing memoir of addiction

What made the experience of listening to Straight Pepper Diet the most enjoyable?

The straight drive through this turbulent and often terrifying story. Great writing that rings astonishingly of truth.

What does Joseph W. Naus bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Both his legal perspective and his keen notice of detail is very compelling.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh, easily.

Any additional comments?

Hope he keeps writing.

I can't believe he's still alive!

If you don't think addiction is a disease then please read this story of tragedy & triumph.

Behavioral Addiction and That Sober Guy

The California State Bar publishes a monthly journal that always has a list of all attorneys who've been suspended, disbarred or resigned in lieu of discipline - just that month. It's the first article everyone reads. The smug read and laugh, confident that nothing like that will ever happen to them. The self-aware take the vignettes as cautionary tales, checklists of things that might go wrong. The attorneys most likely to end up on that list probably aren't reading it at all, too afraid to see themselves actually or metaphorically there or on the way there.

Read with glee or skimmed with horror, the question that's rarely answered: 'How did the attorney get to this point?' Joseph W. Naus' "Straight Pepper Diet: How a Sex Addicted Lawyer Who Lost Everything Found Salvation" (2015) is an unblinking explanation of how he ended up on the California Bar's List of Infamy; spent time in the Twin Towers, the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail; and then did a short stint in prison after a guilty plea to a felony offense. To paraphrase Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, "Successful attorneys are alike; but every disbarred attorney is disbarred in his own way."

Although he certainly doesn't blame genetics (his mother is in recovery) or a tumultuous childhood, Naus was born an addict just waiting for a substance, a behavior or both. Naus found cigarettes, alcohol, and sex. He's fortunate he never took up drugs - his behavior with alcohol was so destructive, he probably wouldn't have survived for long.

I was amused by his daily struggle to quit smoking - every day, he'd buy a fresh pack and a new lighter, throwing the lighter away at the end of the day, promising himself he'd quit the next day. That's the wishful thinking that keeps smokers from saving a few bucks and buying a carton.

There's a good portion of this book that is NSFW (Not Suitable for Work). Naus is a sex addict, and his descriptions are graphic. Until I read this book, I had no understanding of what that meant. It sounded vaguely amusing in a "50 Shades of Gray" E. L. James (2011) way, and only a little embarrassing. In reality, that particular addiction is pretty horrifying, out of control, dangerous, and the antithesis of erotic. Naus got the message across very effectively - but make sure not to listen to this when your kids might overhear.

Naus narrated his own book, which had to have been personally excruciating for him at times. It's always a bonus when an author can narrate their own work, and Naus did well.

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

Entertaining read but skeptical of the truth

No doubt this story is a crazy one but the details he goes into make me question whether it's the truth or simply his fantasy becoming real in his own mind. The details of exactly what people said 10 years ago while under the influence makes me wonder as I know there is no way I could recollect such things. He also describes himself as picking up women constantly, a bad ass in martial arts, and successful attorney from day one. Then downplays it with some self-deprecating story. Totally a "humblebrag" so not a big fan of Joseph the person. Yet the story was a fun (probably not the right word) read even if I thought it contained a lot of fiction. Oh, and the music when he was about to have sex was annoying.

Unique, but twisted, memoir.

Interesting story of the destabilization of a lawyer due to booze, illicit sex, and smoking. TMI re the author's "member." Just keep in mind that the author is also the narrator; if you lose track of that, you'll probably get quite annoyed. Recommend.

Utterly Amazing!

I loved it! Surprising, amazing, inspiring, and unbelievable story! A must!! This is fantastic listen

Seriously, get a new narrator

This was an excellent story to tell- so good, that I was able to hold on through such an awful narration. It takes a lot of courage to get your story out there, but this sounded like he picked some guy off the street to read aloud his most private and intimate of thoughts. But really powerful stuff in here though

A powerful story

From the first minute this story had me hooked. This is an incredible journey of addiction, prison and recovery. Naus is a great narrator. Highly recommend!