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Wasted
- An Alcoholic Therapist's Fight for Recovery in a Tragically Flawed Treatment System
- Narrated by: Michael Pond, Maureen Palmer
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
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Glorious Rock Bottom
- Written by: Bryony Gordon
- Narrated by: Bryony Gordon
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic. In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.
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good listen
- By AM on 2023-05-07
Written by: Bryony Gordon
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I Forgot to Stay Sober: How I Nearly Died Kicking My Addiction to Alcohol
- Written by: J.T. Wahlberg
- Narrated by: JT Wahlberg
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
After two decades of mental, emotional, and physical afflictions, J. T. Wahlberg had had enough, and he was all set to end his 20-year addiction to alcohol. There was just one problem: He “forgot” to research the potential risks of detoxing on his own without any medical supervision. Armed with cans of Campbell’s Chunky soup, plenty of water, and a few tips he had picked up from the movie Trainspotting, he hunkered down in his apartment for what he imagined would be a couple of days of pain followed by a life of sunny sobriety.
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Absolutely captivating - an incredible journey
- By Brooke on 2021-12-10
Written by: J.T. Wahlberg
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On the Edge of Shattered
- A Mother's Experience of Discovering Freedom Through Sobriety
- Written by: Kimberly Kearns
- Narrated by: Candace Fitzgerald
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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The true story of a wife and mother's descent into alcohol addiction. A harrowing and sometimes heartbreaking chronicle of habitual blackouts and unremembered nights, and her triumphant emergence into the light of recovery.
Written by: Kimberly Kearns
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One Hit Away: A Memoir of Recovery
- Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
- Narrated by: Ryan Haugen
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
At the age of 24, Jordan Barnes woke up next to a lifeless body, rifled through his dead friends’ pockets for any remaining heroin, and went right back to using. Strung out and homeless during the supposed best years of his life, there was no clear way out of the opioid crisis ravaging the streets of Portland, Oregon. But though Jordan had long accepted his fate, his parents still held out hope and would do everything in their power to get him the help he so desperately needed.
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Loved it!
- By RL on 2023-01-21
Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
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Blackout
- Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
- Written by: Sarah Hepola
- Narrated by: Sarah Hepola
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, Blackout is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure - the sober life she never wanted. For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure". She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. But there was a price. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth.
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yes! finally! something relatable
- By Jennifer A on 2021-07-16
Written by: Sarah Hepola
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Quitter
- A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery
- Written by: Erica C. Barnett
- Narrated by: Jean Ann Douglass
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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A startlingly frank memoir, Quitter documents one woman's struggles with alcoholism and recovery, with essential new insights into addiction and treatment.
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Related more to this story than memoires “Blackout” or “Drinking”
- By Whimsy Fai on 2022-01-03
Written by: Erica C. Barnett
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Glorious Rock Bottom
- Written by: Bryony Gordon
- Narrated by: Bryony Gordon
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bryony Gordon is a respected journalist, a number one best-selling author and an award-winning mental health campaigner. She is also an alcoholic. In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic 20-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.
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good listen
- By AM on 2023-05-07
Written by: Bryony Gordon
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I Forgot to Stay Sober: How I Nearly Died Kicking My Addiction to Alcohol
- Written by: J.T. Wahlberg
- Narrated by: JT Wahlberg
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
After two decades of mental, emotional, and physical afflictions, J. T. Wahlberg had had enough, and he was all set to end his 20-year addiction to alcohol. There was just one problem: He “forgot” to research the potential risks of detoxing on his own without any medical supervision. Armed with cans of Campbell’s Chunky soup, plenty of water, and a few tips he had picked up from the movie Trainspotting, he hunkered down in his apartment for what he imagined would be a couple of days of pain followed by a life of sunny sobriety.
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Absolutely captivating - an incredible journey
- By Brooke on 2021-12-10
Written by: J.T. Wahlberg
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On the Edge of Shattered
- A Mother's Experience of Discovering Freedom Through Sobriety
- Written by: Kimberly Kearns
- Narrated by: Candace Fitzgerald
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The true story of a wife and mother's descent into alcohol addiction. A harrowing and sometimes heartbreaking chronicle of habitual blackouts and unremembered nights, and her triumphant emergence into the light of recovery.
Written by: Kimberly Kearns
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One Hit Away: A Memoir of Recovery
- Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
- Narrated by: Ryan Haugen
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
At the age of 24, Jordan Barnes woke up next to a lifeless body, rifled through his dead friends’ pockets for any remaining heroin, and went right back to using. Strung out and homeless during the supposed best years of his life, there was no clear way out of the opioid crisis ravaging the streets of Portland, Oregon. But though Jordan had long accepted his fate, his parents still held out hope and would do everything in their power to get him the help he so desperately needed.
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Loved it!
- By RL on 2023-01-21
Written by: Jordan P. Barnes
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Blackout
- Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
- Written by: Sarah Hepola
- Narrated by: Sarah Hepola
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
A memoir of unblinking honesty and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor, Blackout is the story of a woman stumbling into a new kind of adventure - the sober life she never wanted. For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure". She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. But there was a price. Publicly, she covered her shame with self-deprecating jokes, and her career flourished, but as the blackouts accumulated, she could no longer avoid a sinking truth.
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yes! finally! something relatable
- By Jennifer A on 2021-07-16
Written by: Sarah Hepola
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Quitter
- A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery
- Written by: Erica C. Barnett
- Narrated by: Jean Ann Douglass
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A startlingly frank memoir, Quitter documents one woman's struggles with alcoholism and recovery, with essential new insights into addiction and treatment.
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Related more to this story than memoires “Blackout” or “Drinking”
- By Whimsy Fai on 2022-01-03
Written by: Erica C. Barnett
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Drinking Games
- A Memoir
- Written by: Sarah Levy
- Narrated by: Sarah Levy
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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On paper, Sarah Levy’s life was on track. She was 28, living in New York City, working a great job, and socializing every weekend. But Sarah had a secret: her relationship with alcohol was becoming toxic. And only she could save herself. Drinking Games explores the role alcohol has in our formative years, and what it means to opt out of a culture completely enmeshed in drinking. It’s an examination of what our short-term choices about alcohol do to our long-term selves and how they challenge our ability to be vulnerable enough to discover what we really want in life.
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Extremely Relatable
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Written by: Sarah Levy
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Drinking
- A Love Story
- Written by: Caroline Knapp
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen million Americans a year are plagued with alcoholism. Five million of them are women. Many of them, like Caroline Knapp, started in their early teens and began to use alcohol as "liquid armor", a way to protect themselves against the difficult realities of life. In this extraordinarily candid and revealing memoir, Knapp offers important insights not only about alcoholism, but about life itself and how we learn to cope with it.
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Profoundly moving
- By Gillian on 2019-07-15
Written by: Caroline Knapp
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Broken
- My Story of Addiction and Redemption
- Written by: William Cope Moyers, Katherine Ketcham
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In Broken, William Cope Moyers tells the story of a love affair with alcohol and crack cocaine that led him to the brink of death over and over again. A harrowing account, it paints a picture of a young man with every advantage who found himself spiraling into a dark abyss. Battling shame and self-doubt at every turn, the author finally emerges into the clear light of recovery as he dedicates his life to changing the politics of addiction.
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SPEAKING FROM THE HEART
- By margaret brown on 2022-08-08
Written by: William Cope Moyers, and others
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My Fair Junkie
- A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean
- Written by: Amy Dresner
- Narrated by: Amy Dresner
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In the tradition of Orange Is the New Black and Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight, Amy Dresner's My Fair Junkie is an insightful, darkly funny, and shamelessly honest memoir of one woman's battle with all forms of addiction, hitting rock bottom, and forging a path to a life worth living.
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Honest
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Written by: Amy Dresner
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Drink?
- The New Science of Alcohol and Health
- Written by: Professor David Nutt
- Narrated by: Professor David Nutt
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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From after-work happy hour to a nightly glass of wine, we're used to thinking of alcohol as a normal part of our daily lives. In Drink?, neuropharmacology professor David Nutt takes a fascinating, science-based look at drinking to unpack why we should reconsider our favorite pastime. Using cutting-edge scientific research and years of hands-on experience in the field, Nutt delves into the long- and short-term effects of alcohol. He addresses topics such as hormones, mental health, fertility, and addiction, explaining how alcohol travels through our bodies and brains....
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Fantastic informative book
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Written by: Professor David Nutt
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Dry
- A Memoir
- Written by: Augusten Burroughs
- Narrated by: Augusten Burroughs
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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At the request (well, it wasn't really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. When Augusten is forced to examine himself, he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life - and live it sober. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power
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A read that satisfies a book addiction
- By Janders on 2022-09-21
Written by: Augusten Burroughs
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The Recovering
- Written by: Leslie Jamison
- Narrated by: Author
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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With its deeply personal and seamless blend of memoir, cultural history, literary criticism, and reportage, The Recovering turns our understanding of the traditional addiction narrative on its head, demonstrating that the story of recovery can be every bit as electrifying as the train wreck itself. Leslie Jamison deftly excavates the stories we tell about addiction - both her own and others' - and examines what we want these stories to do and what happens when they fail us. All the while, she offers a fascinating look at the larger history of the recovery movement and at the complicated bearing that race and class have on our understanding of who is criminal and who is ill.
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My Story
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Written by: Leslie Jamison
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Alcohol Explained 2: Tools for a Stronger Sobriety
- Written by: William Porter
- Narrated by: Nick
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
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In Alcohol Explained 2 William Porter develops his insight into the alcohol phenomenon, and provides the tools you need to retake control of your life for good.
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Helpful
- By Lesley S. on 2022-03-09
Written by: William Porter
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Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- Written by: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
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Could not put this book down!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 2021-06-26
Written by: Erin Khar
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Between Breaths
- A Memoir of Panic and Addiction
- Written by: Elizabeth Vargas
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Vargas
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Beloved former ABC 20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas reveals her alcohol addiction and anxiety disorder in a shockingly honest and emotional memoir. From the moment she uttered the brave and honest words, "I am an alcoholic," to interviewer George Stephanopoulos, Elizabeth Vargas began writing her story, as her experiences were still raw. Now, in Between Breaths, Vargas discusses her accounts of growing up with anxiety—which began suddenly at the age of six when her father served in Vietnam.
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Great !!
- By Anonymous User on 2023-01-04
Written by: Elizabeth Vargas
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The Night of the Gun
- A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life - His Own
- Written by: David Carr
- Narrated by: Charles Leggett
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Night of the Gun, David Carr redefines memoir with the revelatory story of his years as an addict and chronicles his journey from crack-house regular to regular columnist for The New York Times. Built on 60 videotaped interviews, legal and medical records, and three years of reporting, The Night of the Gun is a ferocious tale that uses the tools of journalism to fact-check the past.
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Real talk
- By Anonymous User on 2021-12-08
Written by: David Carr
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The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
- Discovering a Happy, Healthy, Wealthy Alcohol-Free Life
- Written by: Catherine Gray
- Narrated by: Catherine Gray
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Ever sworn off alcohol for January and found yourself drinking by the 7th? Think there's 'no point' in just one drink? Welcome! There are millions of us. This inspirational, aspirational and highly relatable narrative champions the benefits of sobriety with a three-pronged approach combining the author's personal experience, factual reportage and contributions from expert sources and self-help advice for anyone who wants to reduce their alcohol intake or eliminate it completely.
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Great book.
- By Amazon Customer on 2020-10-08
Written by: Catherine Gray
Publisher's Summary
Psychotherapist Michael Pond is no stranger to the devastating consequences of alcoholism. He has helped hundreds of people conquer their addictions, but this knowledge did not prevent his own near-demise.
In this riveting memoir, he recounts how he lost his practice, his home, and his family - all because of his drinking. After scores of visits to the ER, a tour of hellish recovery homes, a stint in intensive care for end-stage alcoholism, and jail, Pond devised his own personal plan for recovery. He met Maureen Palmer, and together, they investigated scientific alternatives to the rigid abstinence doctrine pushed by 12-step programs.
"Pond's insights coupled with Palmer's section on evidence-based treatments make this an invaluable resource for readers battling their own addictions or concerned about their loved ones." (Publisher's Weekly)
"A vividly written page-turner...gripping and helpful" (Gabor Maté, The Globe and Mail)
"Few books have captured so well the challenge of managing the disease of addiction while simultaneously negotiating an often unresponsive health care system" (Dr. Keith Humphreys, former senior drug policy advisor, Obama administration)
“With tactile intimacy and surgical wit, Pond invites us to share the tragedy of his addiction with a sad smile. And then reveals a singular truth about how people quit. Truly one of a kind...a masterful job of describing the indescribable.” (Dr. Marc Lewis, neuroscientist and author of Memoirs of an Addicted Brain)
What listeners say about Wasted
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Maxime
- 2021-10-06
Amazing book
This book is like a whole new level of step 1. The whole book is great to know how bad it can get
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- karen McCann
- 2020-04-23
Save your credit
This was the worst narrated book I've ever suffered through. Another example of an author destroying his own work by trying to narrate. The sound effects (REALLY? A TOILET FLUSHING?) were beyond annoying and distracting.
The story quickly became a church service and I returned without being able to finish. One more toilet flush, and I was out.
1 person found this helpful
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- Lindsay Karty
- 2023-02-19
Addiction is trauma and stigma
Society is very ill informed about the trauma addiction bears upon all of us. Any negative review saddens me and points to the stigma those of us who struggle faces everyday. As someone who has been battling SUD, it was comforting knowing I’m not alone. No person would ever choose to have to face this battle.
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- Fusefitness
- 2022-09-29
everyone should read this book
Mike's story is so helpful in seeing the complexities of addiction. It opens my eyes to how I can better support anyone with any kind of addiction
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- James L.
- 2022-04-05
Disappointing
I Was enjoying the memoir aspect of the book until maureen took over and i had to stop listening. The book instantly transforms from an interesting chronicle on Michael’s life to a boring lesson on sobriety. I don’t recommend wasting your money.
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- Kelli
- 2022-01-27
Skip it!
A long overly wordy drunk a log from a fellow that seems to believe he invented something. Ego. Fear. Entitlement. Don’t read this book and for gosh sakes, save your ears for listening to it. This one should come with a warning from audible.
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-07-27
really great book
so helpful thanks sooo much, this book has change my life. all I ever did before this book was beat myself up, thus book explains why we have these struggles. thank you so much for sharing your story.
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- Ryan Robinson
- 2020-10-24
Best addiction memoir
I loved the pacing of the book, and the flow of the narrative. The author jumps to different points in his life a certain points to give back story and really flesh out the story of his life. I was engaged the whole way through, and at the end there is a lot of informative educational information. Michael is honest and open, but owns up to the fact he caused his own issues. Finally an addiction narrative that doesn't praise AA, and instead puts it out there as an option that helps many, but should not be one of the only options. Well worth the money, and have listened a couple times.