Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
This is equal parts historical deep dive and personal memoir. He spells out how patterns of addiction happen again and again in society. I found that his conclusions didn't seem that unique and potentially he wrote this early on in his own recovery.
It was an okay book. It was not a book I enjoyed reading, but given the subject matter, that was to be expected. I read through it rather quickly in comparison to other 400-page books I have read. It was pretty dry in some parts of the book and that motivated me to get through it quickly. It was interesting to see Fischer's input on the subject, considering his background.
I would not recommend this book unless I knew they were really interested in the subject matter. I know that this topic can be a sensitive matter to a lot of people.
I would not recommend this book unless I knew they were really interested in the subject matter. I know that this topic can be a sensitive matter to a lot of people.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Although the writing quality is not gr8, the content was thought provoking. History surrounding addiction is often overlooked & this book does an effective job of bringing light to it. I believe this project is a gr8 contribution to the seemingly always evolving conversation abt addiction, especially when you consider the fact it is told by a self-identified alcoholic.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Part Addiction Memoir, Part Addiction History, enjoyable and informative.
Makes you wonder how many, if any, anti-psychotics, pain-killers and other drugs will still be in use a century from now.
Drugs, even the prescribed ones, have a life-cycle and most of them end up dust-bin of history as dangerous misapplications of medical technology. Maybe I'm applying a statement on narcotics and other addictives to medicine wholesale, but it's a valid question.
Makes you wonder how many, if any, anti-psychotics, pain-killers and other drugs will still be in use a century from now.
Drugs, even the prescribed ones, have a life-cycle and most of them end up dust-bin of history as dangerous misapplications of medical technology. Maybe I'm applying a statement on narcotics and other addictives to medicine wholesale, but it's a valid question.
Switched between audio and ebook, somewhat choppy but overall great. I enjoyed the author's personal testimony and unique perspective on addiction, but some pieces of history I wish had been expanded on and the transitions were abrupt. Packed with a ton of info.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
fisher does a really good job of presenting an informative yet philosophical text that absolutely engrossed me in a topic i didn't think i would have any interest in, and honestly i was so close to giving 5 stars but:
- i found the book often jumped around a lot that made it confusing to follow, especially in the middle sections where i wasn't as familiar with the historical context, and which also prevented deeper analysis and depth in discussion and explanation (although to be fair that's not uncommon in nonfiction writing in this zeitgeist and he's not particularly worse than other authors)
- the referencing system for this book is horrendous - at the back, there's a small quote followed by the citation for that specific phrase, which is fine now i'm typing it out but let me tell you it was so much more difficult than it needed to be when i was reading and i wish he'd just gone with footnotes (although again i do understand why he didn't - this book is incredibly well-researched which is fabulous and allows for a great overview but also means there's an enormous amount of material to cite - an entire third of my copy was citations)
i know the long criticism section makes it sound like i'm super critical of it, but i just think those were the things i noticed the most (as opposed to the writing style and fabulous selection of statistics and anecdotes, which were amazing and therefore didn't satisfy the nitpicky cigar-smoking monocled critic at the back of my head), and overall i'm very happy i ended up reading this, and i reckon it's a good book to kick off 2024! hopefully all my nonfiction reads will be as insightful as this one :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
I may be biased, because I am a recovering alcoholic/addict, but I absolutely loved this book!