Atheist fundraiser trashes Christmas. Again

It’s that time of year. American Atheists Federation President, David Silverman, is making the talk-show rounds with his message of “who needs Christ during Christmas?” presumably to raise money before the new year for his non-profit company. His press release points to the Federation’s new Times Square billboard, put up on December 3, which states […]

A wild, insightful, often hilarious trip to sobriety – Mary Karr story

Mary Karr - LIT

Mary Karr, author of Liar’s Club, Cherry and LIT, a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry; and a Peck professor of literature at Syracuse University, was asked once by her four year old son, Dev, to take him to church. At best an agnostic at the time, Mary asked “why?” and Dev answered, “Because I want to […]

Lois Wilson Story: When Love is Not Enough

The Biography of the cofounder of Al-Anon By William G. Borchert Picture if you will, eight women parked in front of the Clinton Street Brooklyn home of Bill and Lois Wilson. Their motors are running and they are steamed. On this night in 1938, their husbands, most of them newly sober, are attending a meeting […]

Memoirs of a Runaway

CEO looks back on his life as a troubled teen By Michael Kennon Outskirts Press $10. 95 Remembering vividly his own pain, shame and isolation as a runaway from age twelve to early adulthood, CEO Michael Kennon hopes his story will let the untold thousands of runaway children in the U.S. know that if he […]

Moments of Clarity

By Christopher Kennedy Lawford William Morrow $25.99 “The morning of February 17, 1986, I woke up, as usual, with that weight in the pit of my stomach, knowing that all I had in front of me was another day of dancing with the 800-pound gorilla of addiction.” And so begins Chris Lawford’s “moment of clarity” […]

Beautiful Boy

A father’s journey through his son’s addiction By David Sheff Houghton Mifflin Company $24 I’ve got a grandson who, at age 22, is drawing social security benefits in the aftermath of two catastrophic drug related accidents that badly damaged him physically and emotionally. And he still smokes pot.   I’ve got another grandson, 26, who […]

Sports Lover’s Guide to Recovery

Andrew L. Dieden Hazelden $14.95 Sports and recovery are similar, says Joanna M. Ceppi, a psychologist at Promises Treatment Center in California in the forward of Andrew Dieden’s book, “in that both require a person to exercise discipline, courage, and some form of surrender.” Andrew Dieden, lawyer, sports fan and a recovering drug addict develops […]

What it takes to pull me through

Why teenagers get in trouble and how four of them got out. By David Marcus (Houghton Mifflin) “Something began to churn inside Burns. It was a raw mixture of rage and fear and guilt—he didn’t know what to call it, but it was so intense that his heart pounded wildly. He felt dizzy. As he […]

Emotional Sobriety

From Relationship Trauma to Resilience and Balance Tian Dayton, Ph.D. Health Communications, Inc. January 2008 $14.95 We humans are neurologically wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain, says author Dr. Tian Dayton, and this is another reason why we are prone to self medicate with a variety of addictions. It’s also why, given a couple […]

Alcoholism and Addiction Cure

A Holistic Approach to Total Recovery How to heal the underlying causes How to end relapse How to end suffering By Chris Prentiss Power Press, $15.95 Chris Prentiss, who operates a pricey treatment center in Malibu called Passages, has been running numerous spots on TV urging people to buy his book, The Alcoholism and Addiction […]