Books about Addicts from Amazon.com

In a sprawling, wild, super-hyped magnum opus, David Foster Wallace fulfills the promise of his precocious novelThe Broom of the System.Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction, features a huge cast and multilevel narrative, and questions essential elements of American culture - our entertainments, our addictions, our relationships, our pleasures, our abilities to define ourselves..
Price: $10.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Josh Hamilton was the first player chosen in the first round of the 1999 baseball draft. He was destined to be one of those rare "high-character " superstars But in 2001, working his way from the minors to the majors, all of the plans for Josh went off the rails in a moment of weakness What followed was a 4-year nightmare of drugs and alcohol, estrangement from friends and family, and his eventual suspension from baseball.

BEYOND BELIEF details the events that led up to the derailment. Josh explains how a young man destined for fame and wealth could allow his life to be taken over by drugs and alcohol. But it is also the memoir of a spiritual journey that breaks through pain and heartbreak and leads to the rebirth of his major-league career.

Josh Hamilton makes no excuses and places no blame on anyone other than himself. He takes responsibility for his poor decisions and believes his story can help millions who battle the same demons. "I have been given a platform to tell my story" he says. "I pray every night I am a good messenger.".
Price: $15.68 [Notify me when price goes down.]

My Dream Life

Deep down inside I knew that by virtue of the life I had been leading, jail was inevitable and a debt long overdue But the most disheartening part of this ordeal occurred as the police led me into Central Booking. I had a clear view of the nearby skate park called the Brooklyn Banks, a famous skate spot that I had been shredding since I was eight years old. I could almost see a young version of myself, laughing with my friends, learning new tricks, skating under the warm evening sun.

"As a skateboarder, I was fixated on testing my boundaries, but this was my way of fooling myself into feeling in control. Soon it grew to consume me."

At only twenty-two, Brandon Novak had accomplished more than most people dream of in a lifetime. By the age of fourteen, he had been discovered by legendary skateboarders Tony Hawk and Bucky Lasek, and signed on to skate professionally. By eighteen, he had traveled the world, signed autographs for thousands of fans, won big-time sponsorships, and had his photo plastered all over the skate magazines.

"I was a dreamseller. I sold those who loved me their dream that I was a recovering addict. I gained their trust, and betrayed them in order to get my precious next fix."

Yet as swiftly as his career peaked, it crashed, brought down by heroine, a force far more powerful than his greatest ambitions. One day he had it all, the next he was living in an abandoned garage, begging for spare change on the street and bathing in gas station restrooms. Brandon now lived for one thing only his next fix.

"Where once I had the world in my hand, I now had nothing but a distorted, twisted version of what I had once been."

Brandon probably would have died a junkie's death if not for his closest friend, MTV and Jackass star, and music video director Bam Margera, who refused to give up on the dreamseller. Bam invited Brandon into his home and gave him cameos in the CKY videos, his independent films Haggard and Minghags, his hit MTV shows Viva La Bam and Bam's Unholy Union, and the hit films Jackass Number Two and Jackass 2.5. Eventually, Bam convinced Brandon to write the powerful and shocking story of how his addiction destroyed his skateboarding career a story soon to be a major motion picture starring Bam Margera as Brandon Novak, the Dreamseller.

Vivid, harrowing and heartfelt, Brandon s story is a riveting and unforgettable journey from a dream life to a nightmare existence, and ultimately to waking up before it's too late..
Price: $13.64 [Notify me when price goes down.]

“The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe

“Again and again, the book delivers recollections that leave the reader winded and unsteady James Frey’s staggering recovery memoir could well be seen as the final word on the topic.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“A brutal, beautifully written memoir.”—The Denver Post

“Gripping . . . A great story . . . You can’t help but cheer his victory.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review.
Price: $2.15 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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. In a voice that is raw and honest, Nic spares no detail in telling us the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his relapse and the road to recovery. As we watch Nic plunge the mental and physical depths of drug addiction, he paints a picture for us of a person at odds with his past, with his family, with his substances, and with himself. It's a harrowing portrait -- but not one without hope..
Price: $6.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $12.93 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Everyone on Wall Street knows Jim Cramer, and Cramer knows Wall Street better than anyone. In the most candid and outrageous look at Wall Street since Liar's Poker, Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com, radio and television commentator, and for years a premier money manager, takes readers on the wild ride that is Wall Street -- revealing how the game is played, who breaks the rules, and who gets hurt.

Confessions of a Street Addict takes us from Cramer's roots in the middle-class Philadelphia suburbs to Harvard, where he began managing money, and then to Goldman Sachs, where he went into business with his wife -- Karen, the "Trading Goddess" -- as his partner. He brilliantly describes the life of a money manager: the frenetic pace, the constant pressure to outperform the market and other fund managers, and the sharklike attacks fund managers make as they circle a fund perceived to be in trouble.

Throughout the book Cramer is characteristically outspoken, offering his hard-won insights about the market and everyone in it, himself included. There has never been a more eloquent market insider than Cramer, nor a more high-octane book about Wall Street..
Price: $6.22 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Narcotics Anonymous: White Booklet

One of NA's earliest publications became the heart of N.A. meetings and the basis for all subsequent N.A. literature

This booklet contains the twelve steps or principles to recovery, the twelve traditions of NA, and an inspiring selection of personal stories written by men and women who are recovering from an addiction to drugs. Recommended for anyone embarking on the road to recovery, and for all who want to help themselves or someone else stay clean..
Price: $6.20 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In one of the most unique memoirs of addiction ever published, Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx shares mesmerizing diary entries from the year he spiraled out of control in a haze of heroin and cocaine, presented alongside riveting commentary from people who were there at the time, and from Nikki himself.

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.

Here, Nikki shares those diary entries -- some poetic, some scatterbrained, some bizarre -- and reflects on that time. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more.

Brutally honest, utterly riveting, and shockingly moving, The Heroin Diaries follows Nikki during the year he plunged to rock bottom -- and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again..
Price: $18.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]