Addiction Philosophy

Why do people with addiction use drugs self-destructively? Why don’t they quit out of self-concern? Why does the rat in the experiment, alone in a cage, press the lever again and again for cocaine—to the point of death? In this pathbreaking book, Hanna Pickard proposes a new paradigm for understanding the puzzle of addiction.

The 30th anniversary edition of the virtuosic, wickedly comic modern classic about the pursuit of happiness in America, with a new foreword written and read by Michelle Zauner, author of the New York Times bestselling sensation Crying in H Mart. “To my mind, there have been two great American...

STOP SCROLLING. START LIVING. RECLAIM YOUR MIND FROM THE MACHINE. We live in the most paradoxical era in human history. We possess technology that can connect the entire globe in a split second, yet we feel the most isolated and lonely. We reach for our smartphones to check the time, only to lose hours to the endless scroll of social media, waking up to find our anxiety spiked and our focus shattered. You are not weak. You are not broken. You are the victim of a biological hijack. For years, Big Tech has weaponized the ancient "Algorithm of Kilesa" (Greed, Hatred, and Delusion) to keep you ...

One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps has established itself as a classic, a bellwether of the most significant recovery movement of the 21st century, combining Buddhist mindfulness practices with a 12-step recovery program.

This audiobook makes a foray into cognitive behavioral therapy and enlightens us on how CBT is helping alleviate various mental health conditions.

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. 

“The program is not religious; it’s spiritual” constitutes one of the many cliches heard at 12-step groups. Leaving aside that, for many, the program is in fact religious, there are other possibilities and distinctions. For example, the program can be philosophical; one can be Socratic or a Platonist and ably maintain sobriety while in accord with 12-step principles. So too can one be a Stoic. While there is little if any evidence that Stoic thought directly influenced the formulation of this program of recovery, there is little among the Stoics that conflicts with those principles ...

“If you’ve picked up this book, I assume you’ve felt the stirrings of a storm—a desire to break old cycles of stagnation and become the most beautiful badass you can be. Perhaps you feel let down by society, disillusioned by life, and ready for change. Welcome, brother, to the path of slaying dragons.” In The Psychology of Slaying Dragons, Kristian Bell delves into the heroic cycle of letting go and overcoming. Through stories and philosophy, he inspires readers to break through fears and addictions, conquer resistance, and win their strongest lives. The warrior ideal has fallen, ...

❓ What if pain was never the problem—but the path? 🌀 What if addiction wasn’t just weakness—but forgetting who you were meant to be? 🌿 What if less isn’t emptiness—but freedom? 🔥 What if the life you crave begins the moment you let go? In a world that medicates discomfort, sells noise, and rewards distraction— The Zen Meditations of an Addict Monk is a quiet rebellion. A book meant not only to inspire you—but to awaken you. A guide. A mirror. 🪞 A fire. 🔥 A return. A spiritual reckoning. A raw, poetic journey through fear, pain, addiction, consumerism, anger, ...

Questions Humans Are Afraid to Ask: Exploring Belief, Identity, War, and the Contradictions of Human Nature Why do we go to war knowing the cost? Why does addiction destroy lives yet governments fail to stop it? Why do adults make irrational decisions despite decades of experience? Why is sex celebrated in some cultures and punished in others? Why does aging terrify us when it is the one thing every human shares? These are not comfortable questions. But they are the most important ones we rarely ask out loud. Exploring Belief, Identity, War, and the Contradictions of Human Nature is a bold,...

From the author of the provocative and influential Glow Kids, Digital Madness explores how we’ve become mad for our devices as our devices our driving us mad, as revolutionary research reveals technology's damaging effect on mental illness and suicide rates—and offers a way out. Dr. Nicholas...

Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn't give up. The Comfort Book is a collection of little islands of hope. It gathers consolations and stories that give new ways of seeing ourselves and the world. Matt Haig's mix of philosophy, memoir and self-reflection builds on the wisdom of...

She did everything right. She lost her home, health and business anyway. Be a good person. Be a good worker. Success will follow. Those were the rules author Denise Kawaii lived by. After surviving a childhood fraught with family dysfunction and poverty, she’d finally found the success she’d always sought. She had a little blue suburban house, a baby on her hip, and a rapidly expanding business. Things were, in a word, perfect. But when her best friend died, starting a rapid-fire series of death, ill health and loss, nothing could stop the unravelling of her middle-class life. When ...

A groundbreaking exploration of the “science of enlightenment,” told through the lens of the journey of Siddhartha (better known as Buddha), by Guardian science editor James Kingsland. In a lush grove on the banks of the Neranjara in northern India—400 years before the birth of Christ...

How did death camp inmates such as Viktor Frankl, Elie Wiesel and Bruno Bettelheim not only survive Nazi captivity, but create lives of hopefulness? How does one find purpose for one’s life after the death of a beloved child? How can the prisoner in maximum security hope to come out a better person despite the degradation and brutality of confinement? How can ordinary folks carve meaning in their lives in times of economic hardship and quarantines? Living Is No Laughing Matter, provides some paths to self-fulfilment especially in times of grief, isolation, or extraordinary stress. Written...

The Tao of Sobriety shows how to apply eastern philosophy to enhance recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. With a few simple mental exercises, listeners can learn how to quiet "The Committee," those nasty mental voices that undermine serenity and self-esteem. With leaders of the recovery movement enthusiastically endorsing this uniquely helpful book, The Tao of Sobriety is an invaluable addition to the recovery bookshelf.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A clear-eyed warning about the increasingly destructive influence of America’s “shame industrial complex” in the age of social media and hyperpartisan politics—from the New York Times bestselling author of Weapons of Math Destruction “O’Neil...

Could the wisdom of ancient Stoics be your key to mastering modern challenges? Discover the power of Stoicism in "A Stoic Guidebook for Recovery", an innovative addition to addiction and recovery books. This guide marries the core principles of Stoic philosophy - being the best version of oneself under all circumstances - with the journey to recovery from addiction. With each enlightening chapter derived from Epictetus's Enchiridion, you'll delve into Stoicism's transformational teachings and their practical applications in overcoming addiction.

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.

For ten years, Henry Bugalho produced political content on YouTube. Thousands of videos. Hundreds of thousands of followers. Millions of views. Then, in his early forties, his heart stopped. This book is not about the heart attack. It's about what the heart attack revealed. I Sold Your Time is the confession of someone who operated the attention economy from the inside: who manufactured outrage for clicks, who fed the algorithm knowing exactly how it worked, who sold skepticism as a product. This is not the story of a social media victim. It's the story of an accomplice. With the brutal ...