Personal accounts, which include the author’s own struggle with her alcoholic sister, are presented alongside statistics that examine race, sex, and class differences, as well as a bibliography and index that provide quite a bit of what a drinking woman (or dry alcoholic) needs to know in order to battle the demon in the bottle. The cover of the paperback is quite appropriate. The title is blurred on top of a black background; below, a lone woman holds a wine glass. [ read more ]
Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living is not a book about Yoga poses or how to achieve the perfect body. It is exactly what the title describes, a work on utilizing Yoga daily to learn who we are as individuals. Chapter by chapter, Farhi show us how we can cope with living in the word as part of the collective. It doesn’t matter how you start Yoga or why, but do it and see where it leads you on the path to self-awareness and acceptance of others. [ read more ]
An illustrated pocket-sized book on how to deal with being the underdog in the war on drugs in America, Busted provides tips on how to avoid cops, observations of a variety of situations with the law (most gone bad) and useful charts, such as how long you’ll do time if you’re caught with weed in Arizona as opposed to Michigan. ... [ read more ]
As the title states, the latest edition of From Chocolate to Morphine is an easy to read and informative guide to drugs of all kinds. From beginning to end, the authors maintain the approach of providing the facts about drugs while explaining relevant terms and presenting first hand experiences of drug use. Each chapter deals with an issue ... [ read more ]
Peter Lee’s The Big Smoke presents the process of opium smoking, from planting seeds to smoking the prepared opium. Along the way, Lee offers a brief historical background ranging from the international opium trade of previous centuries to the current ban on harvesting and use. The book features copious black and white images to supplement the material. ... [ read more ]
Cannabis is a very thorough text describing research on cannabis extracts as part of modern prescription medicine. The clinical trials involved are meticulously outlined for the reader. The material highlights how much work and analysis goes into complex pharmaceutical testing. Along with the research, Russo has included some aspects of marijuana history. There are a couple ... [ read more ]
Hooked on Heroin is a reprint of the 2001 Swedish edition, translated into English, with appropriate changes. The work focuses on research Lalander did in the Swedish city, Norrköping. He interviewed and observed young heroin users with the intent of highlighting the growing use of heroin and the subculture that is created around it.
The book begins with the problematic ... [ read more ]
Addicted is a collection of short essays about substance abuse, written by Canadian authors. The stories flow, but at times it’s like swallowing shards of glass, especially when the writers hit raw nerves. Frequently, their images conjure up memories of similar incidents that happened, both to the self and others. The editors, Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, ... [ read more ]
Barbara Hodgson’s Opium: A Potrait of the Heavenly Demon is bound in a deep purple cloth hardcover and filled with glossy pages. The book deals with a wide variety of art and literature concerning the opium dens and smoking in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She focuses on North America, Europe, India, and China, with brief ... [ read more ]
Dangerous Drugs covers a wide variety of substances, from illegal (like marijuana and khat) to legal, such as caffeine and alcohol. The book is split up into easily navigated sections that discuss a wide range of basic issues, including drug effects and withdrawal symptoms. A few pages of color photos in the middle of the book provide the ... [ read more ]