Addiction History

As a psychiatrist in training fresh from medical school, Carl Erik Fisher found himself face-to-face with an addiction crisis that nearly cost him everything. Desperate to make sense of his condition, he turned to the history of addiction, learning that our society’s current quagmire is only part of a centuries-old struggle to treat addictive behavior.

When two Stanford graduate students set out to create a new kind of cigarette that wouldn’t kill them, they didn’t foresee all the obstacles that lay ahead — or the powerful forces their invention would unleash. Nearly 10 years after the launch of the JUUL, Backfired: The Vaping Wars asks: Could e-cigarettes have been the solution to one of the world’s most pressing public health problems—or was this technology doomed to introduce a whole new generation to nicotine, and end up perpetuating an intractable addiction?

Janis Joplin was more than a rock star. She was a force of nature whose voice burned through the polite veneers of her time and reshaped the possibilities of women in music. Janis Joplin: Voice of Raw Emotion is the definitive biography of a woman who carried the weight of rejection, the ecstasy of freedom, and the cost of fame in every note she sang. Born in 1943 in the refinery town of Port Arthur, Texas, Janis grew up surrounded by conservative expectations that never fit her. Ostracized in high school, she found refuge in records by Bessie Smith, Lead Belly, and Odetta. By the time she ...

Great insights into the 12-step process, with depth and humor.

James Hetfield is more than the voice and rhythm guitarist of Metallica—he is the architect of discipline that turned a garage band into one of the most powerful musical institutions in history. James Hetfield: Right Hand, Right Decisions traces his journey from a strict childhood in Downey, California to commanding stadiums across continents, blending intimate biography with cultural history. This definitive account explores every phase of Hetfield’s career: the precision of early garage rehearsals, the fury of Kill ’Em All, the sophistication of Master of Puppets, the mainstream ...

The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs. On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers.

Whether addicted or not, we all have stories to tell. The stories of tragedy and redemption found within Tales of Addiction are not about the well known celebrities you find in the usual tabloids. Rather, these stories are true-grit tales told by people you will never meet but whose words will haunt you for months, years maybe. The author collected the stories for over two years through a "call for stories" she put in journals, workshops and lectures. Interwoven throughout, Barbara and her son share their own story of pain and struggle.

To understand something, you need to know its history. Right? Wrong, says Alex Rosenberg in How History Gets Things Wrong. Feeling especially well-informed after reading a book of popular history on the best-seller list? Don't. Narrative history is always, always wrong. It not just incomplete or inaccurate but deeply wrong, as wrong as Ptolemaic astronomy. We no longer believe that the earth is the center of the universe. Why do we still believe in historical narrative? Our attachment to history as a vehicle for understanding has a long Darwinian pedigree and a genetic basis.

Terence McKenna hypothesizes that as the North African jungles receded, giving way to savannas and grasslands near the end of the most recent ice age, a branch of our arboreal primate ancestors left the forest canopy and began living in the open areas beyond. There they experimented with new varieties of foods as they adapted, physically and mentally, to the environment. Among the new foods found in this environment were psilocybin-containing mushrooms.

Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity...doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance. So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to doing nothing (at least as capitalism defines it). Our attention is the most precious - and overdrawn - resource we have. Once we can start paying a new kind of attention, we can undertake bolder forms of political action, reimagine humankind's role in the environment, and find more meaningful understandings of happiness and progress.

When high school teacher Caelum Quirk and his wife, Maureen, move to Littleton, Colorado, they both get jobs at Columbine High School. In April 1999, while Caelum is away, Maureen finds herself in the library at Columbine, cowering in a cabinet and expecting to be killed. Miraculously, she...

Art Pepper’s life reads like the score of a restless symphony—melodic brilliance intertwined with chaos, tenderness colliding with defiance. Art Pepper: Alto’s West Coast Firebrand traces the complete arc of one of jazz’s most haunting figures, from a troubled childhood in Depression-era Los Angeles to the luminous heights of his late-career revival. Drawing from archival research, interviews, and recordings, this definitive biography reconstructs every movement of Pepper’s extraordinary life with cinematic precision and documentary depth. Through thirty immersive chapters, ...

Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana, from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating listen for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb.

Dave Navarro has always lived at the fault line where underground ferocity meets mainstream visibility. Dave Navarro – Strings and Scars traces his uncompromising journey from Echo Park adolescence scarred by tragedy to global stages with Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers, revealing how one guitarist forged resilience through volatility. This definitive biography excavates Navarro’s story chronologically: his teenage immersion in guitar drills and punk tapes; the combustible formation of Jane’s Addiction in 1980s Hollywood clubs; the chaos of breakthrough records ...

Scott Weiland’s story is one of brilliance and volatility, triumph and collapse, charisma and fragility. As the magnetic frontman of Stone Temple Pilots and later Velvet Revolver, he helped define the sound of the 1990s while embodying both the glamour and the wreckage of rock stardom. Scott Weiland: Chameleon of Grunge and Beyond is the definitive biography, tracing his life from childhood in San Jose through the arenas of global fame, into the chaos of addiction, and toward his tragic final days in 2015. Drawing on exhaustive research and documentary detail, this book offers an ...

We've all found ourselves checking email at the dinner table, holding our breath while waiting for Outlook to load, or sitting hunched in front of a screen for an hour longer than we intended. Mobile devices and the web have invaded our lives, and this is a big idea book that addresses one of the biggest questions of our age: Can we stay connected without diminishing our intelligence, attention spans, and ability to really live? Can we have it all?

A classic Big Book study with Joe McQ and Charlie P. Following, that is, another Big Book study with Joe McC and Charlie P. This item has been formatted for effective use by AA Groups. The formatting will help listeners keep track of what they have listened to and find their place when they resume listening or are looking for a subject or section. For efficient use by AA groups and members, the Big Book studies are divided into chapters, which are given meaningful titles based on subject - which often is the section of the Big Book under discussion.

Smart Phone Dumb Phone rewires our relationship to technology. By unravelling the brainwashing process behind our addictive behaviour, we are freed from dependence and can reassert control over our time and productivity. Including 20 practical steps to help you along your way, this wonderful guide will release you from the clutches of your smartphone and allow you to live in the moment. It truly is the easyway.

Warren Zevon was one of rock’s most literate and uncompromising voices, a songwriter who fused gallows humor with haunting melodies and turned his own contradictions into unforgettable songs. Warren Zevon: Rock’s Dark Humorist traces the complete arc of his life and career, from his Chicago childhood through his rise in Los Angeles, his years of struggle, his landmark albums, and his unflinching final performances recorded under the shadow of terminal illness. This definitive biography presents a documentary-grade portrait of a man who lived in chaos, created brilliance, and left a ...

Mary Pearl T Understanding and Applying the 12 Steps of Alanon features funny stories about becoming honest about harms done resisting, making amends, and then enjoying relief when you do. She talks about her gradual spiritual awakening as she grows in Alanon.