The Best Books About Addiction
“What are the best books about Addiction?” We looked at 359 of the top books about or featuring addiction, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 16 titles, all appearing on 3 or more “Best Addiction” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 300+ titles, as well as the lists we used, are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 16 Addiction Books
16 .) 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery by Allen Berger Ph.D
Lists It Appears On:
- Clear Sky
- Harbor Village Florida
- Nerdy Creator
Concise advice on hunting down the personal culprits that sabotage sobriety and personal happiness. To grow in recovery, we must grow up emotionally. This means getting honest with ourselves and facing up to the self-defeating thoughts and actions that put our sobriety at risk. Although there are as many ways to mess up recovery as there are alcoholics and addicts, some general themes exist, which includeconfusing self-concern with selfishnessnot making amendsusing the program to try to become perfectnot getting help for relationship troublesbelieving that life should be easyIn simple, down-to-earth language, Allen Berger explores the twelve most commonly confronted beliefs and attitudes that can sabotage recovery. He then provides tools for working through these problems in daily life. This useful guide offers fresh perspectives on how the process of change begins with basic self-awareness and a commitment to working a daily program.
15 .) Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change by Jeffrey Foote
Lists It Appears On:
- Clear Sky
- Goodreads
- Recovery
The groundbreaking method that upends current treatment models and “offers collective hope to families of substance abusers” (Kirkus Reviews), helping loved ones conquer addiction and compulsion problems through positive reinforcement and kindness—from the leaders in progressive addiction treatment in the US. Beyond Addiction goes beyond the theatrics of interventions and tough love to show family and friends how they can use kindness, positive reinforcement, and motivational and behavioral strategies to help someone change. Drawing on forty collective years of research and decades of clinical experience, the authors present the best practical advice science has to offer. Delivered with warmth, optimism, and humor, Beyond Addiction defines a new, empowered role for friends and family and a paradigm shift for the field. This new approach is not only less daunting for both the substance abuser and his family, but is more effective as well. Learn how to use the transformative power of relationships for positive change, guided by exercises and examples. Practice what really works in therapy and in everyday life, and discover many different treatment options along with tips for navigating the system. And have hope: this guide is a life raft for parents, family, and friends—offering “reminders that although no one can make another person change, there is much that can be done to make change seem appealing and possible” (Publishers Weekly).
14 .) Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy by David Sheff
Lists It Appears On:
- Book Riot
- Nerdy Creator
- Recovery
A myth-shattering look at drug abuse and addiction treatment, based on cutting-edge research Addiction is a preventable, treatable disease, not a moral failing. As with other illnesses, the approaches most likely to work are based on science — not on faith, tradition, contrition, or wishful thinking. These facts are the foundation of Clean. The existing addiction treatments, including Twelve Step programs and rehabs, have helped some, but they have failed to help many more. To discover why, David Sheff spent time with scores of scientists, doctors, counselors, and addicts and their families, and explored the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine. In Clean, he reveals how addiction really works, and how we can combat it. “A guide for those affected by addiction, but also a manifesto . . . for America as it confronts its drug problem. [Sheff] has performed a vital service by compiling sensible advice on a subject for which sensible advice is in short supply.” — New York Times Book Review “As a journalist, father, and clear-eyed chronicler of addiction, David Sheff is without peer.” — Sanjay Gupta, M.D., chief medical correspondent, CNN
13 .) Drinking: A Love Story
Lists It Appears On:
- Book Riot
- New Start Recovery
- Ranker
The roots of alcoholism in the life of a brilliant daughter of an upper-class family are explored in this stylistic, literary memoir of drinking by a Massachusetts journalist. Caroline Knapp describes how the distorted world of her well-to-do parents pushed her toward anorexia and alcoholism. Fittingly, it was literature that saved her: she found inspiration in Pete Hamill’s ‘A Drinking Life’ and sobered up. Her tale is spiced up with the characters she has known along the way. A journalist describes her twenty years as a functioning alcoholic, explaining how she used alcohol to escape personal relationships and the realities of life until a series of personal crises forced her to confront her problem.
12 .) Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Book Riot
- New Start Recovery
Revisit the second memoir in Augusten’s bestselling trilogy of Running with Scissors, Dry, and Lust & Wonder. You may not know it, but you’ve met Augusten Burroughs. You’ve seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls, and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn’t really a request) of his employers, Augusten landed in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey, Jr., are immediately dashed by the grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click, and that’s when 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. What follows is a memoir that’s as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is real. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a higher power.
11 .) In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction by Gabor Maté
Lists It Appears On:
- Book Riot
- Clear Sky
- Work It Health
He would probably dispute it, but Gabor Maté is something of a compassion machine. Diligently treating the drug addicts of Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside with sympathy in his heart and legislative reform in mind can’t be easy. But Maté never judges. His book is a powerful call-to-arms, both for the decriminalization of drugs and for a more sympathetic and informed view of addiction. As Maté observes, “Those whom we dismiss as ‘junkies’ are not creatures from a different world, only men and women mired at the extreme end of a continuum on which, here or there, all of us might well locate ourselves.” In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts begins by introducing us to many of Dr. Maté’s most dire patients who steal, cheat, sell sex, and otherwise harm themselves for their next hit. Maté looks to the root causes of addiction, applying a clinical and psychological view to the physical manifestation and offering some enlightening answers for why people inflict such catastrophe on themselves. Finally, he takes aim at the hugely ineffectual, largely U.S.-led War on Drugs (and its worldwide followers), challenging the wisdom of fighting drugs instead of aiding the addicts, and showing how controversial measures such as safe injection sites are measurably more successful at reducing drug-related crime and the spread of disease than anything most major governments have going. It’s not easy reading, but we ignore his arguments at our peril. When it comes to combating the drug trade and the ravages of addiction, society can use all the help it can get. –Kim Hughes
10 .) Lit: A Memoir
Lists It Appears On:
- Book Riot
- New Start Recovery
- Solutions Recovery
The New York Times bestseller, now available in paperback—Mary Karr’s sequel to the beloved and bestselling The Liars’ Club and Cherry “lassos you, hogties your emotions and won’t let you go” (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times). Mary Karr’s bestselling, unforgettable sequel to her beloved memoirs The Liars’ Club and Cherry—and one of the most critically acclaimed books of the year—Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. The Boston Globe calls Lit a book that “reminds us not only how compelling personal stories can be, but how, in the hands of a master, they can transmute into the highest art.” The New York Times Book Review calls it “a master class on the art of the memoir” in its Top 10 Books of 2009 Citation. Michiko Kakutani calls it “a book that lassos you, hogties your emotions and won’t let you go” in her New York Times review. And Susan Cheever states, simply, that Lit is “the best book about being a woman in America I have read in years.” In addition to the New York Times, Lit was named a Best Book of 2009 by the New Yorker (Reviewer Favorite), Entertainment Weekly (Top 10), Time (Top 10), the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Christian Science Monitor, Slate, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Seattle Times.
9 .) More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction by Elizabeth Wurtzel
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Book Riot
- Ranker
Elizabeth Wurtzel published her memoir of depression, Prozac Nation, to astonishing literary acclaim. A cultural phenomenon by age twenty-six, she had fame, money, respecteverything she had always wanted except that one, true thing: happiness. For all of her professional success, Wurtzel felt like a failure. She had lost friends and lovers, every magazine job she’d held, and way too much weight. She couldn’t write, and her second book was past due. But when her doctor prescribed Ritalin to help her focus-and boost the effects of her antidepressants — Wurtzel was spared. The Ritalin worked. And worked. The pills became her sugar…the sweetness in the days that have none. Soon she began grinding up the Ritalin and snorting it. Then came the cocaine, then more Ritalin, then more cocaine. Then I need more. I always need more. For all of my life I have needed more… More, Now, Again is the brutally honest, often painful account of Wurtzel’s descent into drug addiction. It is also a love story: How Wurtzel managed to break free of her relationship with Ritalin and learned to love life, and herself, is at the heart of this ultimately uplifting memoir that no reader will soon forget.
8 .) The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Goodreads
- Sober Nation
The urban classic coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, and basketball. Jim Carroll grew up to become a renowned poet and punk rocker. But in this memoir of the mid-1960’s, set during his coming-of-age from 12 to 15, he was a rebellious teenager making a place and a name for himself on the unforgiving streets of New York City. During these years, he chronicled his experiences, and the result is a diary of unparalleled candor that conveys his alternately hilarious and terrifying teenage existence. Here is Carroll prowling New York City–playing basketball, hustling, stealing, getting high, getting hooked, and searching for something pure. “I met him in 1970, and already he was pretty much universally recognized as the best poet of his generation. . . . The work was sophisticated and elegant. He had beauty.” — Patti Smith
7 .) Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Book Riot
- Goodreads
- New Start Recovery
Alcohol was “the gasoline of all adventure” for Sarah Hepola. She spent her evenings at cocktail parties and dark bars where she proudly stayed till last call. Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman. But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should have been. Mornings became detective work on her own life. What did I say last night? How did I meet that guy? She apologized for things she couldn’t remember doing, as though she were cleaning up after an evil twin. 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. The fuel she thought she needed was draining her spirit instead. 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. Shining a light into her blackouts, she discovers the person she buried, as well as the confidence, intimacy, and creativity she once believed came only from a bottle. Her tale will resonate with anyone who has been forced to reinvent or struggled in the face of necessary change. It’s about giving up the thing you cherish most–but getting yourself back in return.
6 .) The Night of the Gun by David Carr
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Book Riot
- Ranker
- Signature Reads
Do we remember only the stories we can live with?The ones that make us look good in the rearview mirror? 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 sixty 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. Carr’s investigation of his own history reveals that his odyssey through addiction, recovery, cancer, and life as a single parent was far more harrowing — and, in the end, more miraculous — than he allowed himself to remember. Over the course of the book, he digs his way through a past that continues to evolve as he reports it. That long-ago night he was so out of his mind that his best friend had to pull a gun on him to make him go away? A visit to the friend twenty years later reveals that Carr was pointing the gun. His lucrative side business as a cocaine dealer? Not all that lucrative, as it turned out, and filled with peril. His belief that after his twins were born, he quickly sobered up to become a parent? Nice story, if he could prove it. The notion that he was an easy choice as a custodial parent once he finally was sober? His lawyer pulls out the old file and gently explains it was a little more complicated than that. In one sense, the story of “The Night of the Gun” is a common one — a white-boy misdemeanant lands in a ditch and is restored to sanity through the love of his family, a God of his understanding, and a support group that will go unnamed. But when the whole truth is told, it does not end there. After fourteen years — or was it thirteen? — Carr tried an experiment in social drinking. Double jeopardy turned out to be a game he did not play well. As a reporter and columnist at the nation’s best newspaper, he prospered, but gained no more adeptness at mood-altering substances. He set out to become a nice suburban alcoholic and succeeded all too well, including two more arrests, one that included a night in jail wearing a tuxedo. Ferocious and eloquent, courageous and bitingly funny, “The Night of the Gun” unravels the ways memory helps us not only create our lives, but survive them.
5 .) Why Don’t They Just Quit? What families and friends need to know about addiction and recovery. by Joe Herzanek
Lists It Appears On:
- Clear Sky
- Goodreads
- Goodreads
- Moyer Foundation
Real-life solutions to help you now! Watching a loved one immersed in an intense battle with alcohol and drug abuse may be the most difficult, complex and harrowing experience you ll ever have. This book offers a message of hope to families and friends, giving practical solutions so they can help anyone struggling with addiction to begin the road to recovery. You will learn: Why a person doesn t have to hit rock-bottom before getting help. When helping is actually hurting. Why quitting is not the same as recovering. How to deal with a relapse. How to receive 50 percent or more off the cost of treatment. Why a parent would leave their child due to their addiction. Why effective intervention doesn t have to be a surprise attack. Answers to over 30 common, and not so common questions. Inspiring first-hand recovery stories from real people!
4 .) Alcoholics Anonymous: The Big Book
Lists It Appears On:
- Clear Sky
- Luxury Rehab Center
- New Start Recovery
- Solutions Recovery
- Test Country
It’s more than a book. It’s a way of life. Alcoholics Anonymous-The Big Book-has served as a lifeline to millions worldwide. First published in 1939, Alcoholics Anonymous sets forth cornerstone concepts of recovery from alcoholism and tells the stories of men and women who have overcome the disease. With publication of the second edition in 1955, the third edition in 1976, and now the fourth edition in 2001, the essential recovery text has remained unchanged while personal stories have been added to reflect the growing and diverse fellowship. The long-awaited fourth edition features 24 new personal stories of recovery. Key features and benefits ·the most widely used resource for millions of individuals in recovery ·contains full, original text describing A.A. the program ·updated with 24 new personal stories
3 .) We All Fall Down: Living with Addiction by Nic Sheff
Lists It Appears On:
- Above It All treatment
- Book Riot
- Goodreads
- Luxury Rehab Center
- Solutions Recovery
In his bestselling memoir Tweak, Nic Sheff took readers on an emotionally gripping roller-coaster ride through his days as an addict. Now in this powerful follow-up about his continued efforts to stay clean, Nic writes candidly about eye-opening stays at rehab centers, devastating relapses, and hard-won realizations about what it means to be a young person living with addiction. Tweak and Beautiful Boy, his father’s memoir about him, are the basis of the upcoming film Beautiful Boy, starring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet.
2 .) Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff
Lists It Appears On:
- Drug Rehab
- Goodreads
- Ranker
- Sober Nation
- Solutions Recovery
- Test Country
The story that inspired the major motion picture Beautiful Boy featuring Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet. This New York Times bestselling memoir of a young man’s addiction to methamphetamine tells a raw, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful tale of the road from relapse to recovery. 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 into 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.
1 .) Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
Lists It Appears On:
- Book Riot
- Goodreads
- Luxury Rehab Center
- Ranker
- Recovery
- Solutions Recovery
- Test Country
- Work It Health
What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of David Sheff’s journey through his son Nic’s addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery. Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied, stole, and lived on the streets. David Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs: the denial, the 3 A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? The police? The hospital?), the rehabs. His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself, and the obsessive worry and stress took a tremendous toll, but as a journalist, he instinctively researched every avenue of treatment that might save his son and refused to give up on him. Beautiful Boy is a fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional roller coaster of loving a child who seems beyond help.
The 300+ Additional Best Books About Addiction
| # | Books | Author | Lists |
| (Titles Appear On 2 Lists Each) | |||
| 17 | A Piece of Cake | Cupcake Brown | Above It All treatment |
| Book Riot | |||
| 18 | Addict In The Family: Stories of Loss, Hope, and Recovery | Beverly Conyers : | Moyer Foundation |
| Recovery | |||
| 19 | America Anonymous: Eight Addicts in Search of a Life | Inspire Malibu | |
| Book Riot | |||
| 20 | Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction | Book Riot | |
| Drug Rehab | |||
| 21 | Crank | Book Riot | |
| Test Country | |||
| 22 | Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic | Sam Quinones | Work It Health |
| Book Riot | |||
| 23 | Drop the Rock | Luxury Rehab Center | |
Solutions Recovery | |||
| 24 | For Teenagers Living With a Parent Who Abuses Alcohol/Drugs | Edith Lynn Hornik-Beer | Jody Lamb |
Moyer Foundation | |||
| 25 | Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster | Kristen Johnston | Above It All treatment |
| Book Riot | |||
| 26 | Healing the Addicted Brain | Harold Urschel | Nerdy Creator |
Harbor Village Florida | |||
| 27 | High Price: Drugs, Neuroscience, and Discovering Myself | Carl Hart | Work It Health |
| Book Riot | |||
| 28 | How to Grow Up | Book Riot | |
| Electric Literature | |||
| 29 | Infinite Jest | Book Riot | |
| Ranker | |||
| 30 | Junky | William S. Burroughs | Book Riot |
| Signature Reads | |||
| 31 | Living Sober | Clear Sky | |
| Sober Nation | |||
| 32 | My Dad Loves Me, My Dad Has a Disease – A Child’s View: Living with Addiction | Claudia Black | Jody Lamb |
Moyer Foundation | |||
| 33 | Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery | Bill Clegg | Goodreads |
| Sober Nation | |||
| 34 | Opiate Addiction – The Painkiller Addiction Epidemic, Heroin Addiction and the Way Out | Taite Adams | Goodreads |
Luxury Rehab Center | |||
| 35 | Permanent Midnight | Jerry Stahl | Electric Literature |
| Signature Reads | |||
| 36 | Recover to Live: Kick Any Habit, Manage Any Addiction | Solutions Recovery | |
| Drug Rehab | |||
| 37 | Requiem For a Dream | Hubert Selby, Jr. | Book Riot |
| Signature Reads | |||
| 38 | Sober for Good; New Solutions for Drinking Problems | Inspire Malibu | |
| Drug Rehab | |||
| 39 | Sober Stick Figure | Amber Tozer | Above It All treatment |
| Book Riot | |||
| 40 | The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test | Ranker | |
| Test Country | |||
| 41 | The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star | Nikki Sixx | Above It All treatment |
| Drug Rehab | |||
| 42 | The Mindfulness Workbook for Addiction | Rebecca Williams and Julie Kraft | Nerdy Creator |
| Goodreads | |||
| 43 | The Recovery Formula: An Addict’s Guide to getting Clean & Sober Forever | Beth Burgess | Luxury Rehab Center |
| Goodreads | |||
| 44 | Trainspotting | Irvine Welsh | Book Riot |
| Five Books | |||
| 45 | Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction | Maia Szalavitz | Nerdy Creator |
| Work It Health | |||
| (Titles Appear On 1 Lists Each) | |||
| 46 | A Young Vice Cop Investigates Her Darkest Case of Meth Addiction | Book Riot | |
| 47 | 32 Candles | Book Riot | |
| 48 | 365 Tao: Daily Meditations | Fit Recovery | |
| 49 | 7 Weeks To Sobriety | Fit Recovery | |
| 50 | A Dog’s Tail: Alice’s hindsight of alcohol abuse in her family | Jamie A Landsman | Goodreads |
| 51 | A Drinking Life: A Memoir | Ranker | |
| 52 | A Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps | Sex Addict Help | |
| 53 | A Girl Walks Out of a Bar | Book Riot | |
| 54 | A New Pair of Glasses | Solutions Recovery | |
| 55 | A Plague Year | Book Riot | |
| 56 | A Scanner Darkly | Book Riot | |
| 57 | A Terrible Thing Happened | Margaret M. Holmes | Jody Lamb |
| 58 | Addicted to Adultery: How We Saved Our Marriage and How You Can Save Yours | Sex Addict Help | |
| 59 | ADDICTION & Grace | Inspire Malibu | |
| 60 | Addiction to Perfection: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 61 | Addiction: The Master Keys to Recovery | Dr. Michael J. De Vito D.C. DACACD | Goodreads |
| 62 | Addiction: What’s Really Going On? Inside a Heroin Treatment Program | Deborah McCloskey | Goodreads |
| 63 | Addiction: Why Can’t They Just Stop? – John Hoffman, Susan Froemke : | Moyer Foundation | |
| 64 | Addictions and Trauma Recovery: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 65 | Addicts in the Family: Stories of Loss, Hope and Recovery | Beverly Conyers | Sober Nation |
| 66 | Agency of fear | Ranker | |
| 67 | Alateen: Hope for Children of Alcoholics | Al-Anon Family Groups Headquarters, Inc. | Jody Lamb |
| 68 | Alcohol And The Addictive Brain | Fit Recovery | |
| 69 | American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot | Book Riot | |
| 70 | An Anatomy of Addiction: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 71 | An Elephant in the Living Room | Jill M. Hastings : | Moyer Foundation |
| 72 | Antifragile | Fit Recovery | |
| 73 | Astronomicon minorem – DMT, Cthulhu and You | Khurt Khave | Goodreads |
| 74 | Back From Betrayal: Recovering From his Affairs | Sex Addict Help | |
| 75 | Back To Basics | Solutions Recovery | |
| 76 | Basketball Diaries | Book Riot | |
| 77 | Basketball Junkie | Chris Herren | Goodreads |
| 78 | Before it’s Too Late: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 79 | Before You Break | Kyla Stone | Goodreads |
| 80 | Believable Hope: 5 Essential Elements to Beat Any Addiction | Drug Rehab | |
| 81 | Below Sea Level | Jane Foster | Goodreads |
| 82 | Beneath a Meth Moon | Book Riot | |
| 83 | Beyond Gay or Straight: Understanding Sexual Orientation | Sex Addict Help | |
| 84 | Bigger, Leaner, Stronger | Fit Recovery | |
| 85 | Black Out | Electric Literature | |
| 86 | Black Tar: For the Love of Heroin | Stephen E. Crockett | Goodreads |
| 87 | Blackout Girl: Growing Up and Drying Out in America | Book Riot | |
| 88 | Blue Days, Black Nights: A Memoir | Ranker | |
| 89 | Breaking Free: How to be Completely Free from any Addiction | Kevin W. Shorter | Goodreads |
| 90 | Bright Lights Big City | Book Riot | |
| 91 | Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption | Drug Rehab | |
| 92 | Can Genetics Increase Risk of Alcoholism? | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 93 | Candy | Luke Davies | Goodreads |
| 94 | Changing for Good: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 95 | Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs | Johann Hari | Work It Health |
| 96 | Chasing the Star Garden (The Airship Racing Chronicles, #1) | Melanie Karsak | Goodreads |
| 97 | Chiva | Ranker | |
| 98 | Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself | Recovery | |
| 99 | Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in the Treatment of Addiction: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 100 | Commonly Abused Drugs | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 101 | Confessions of an English Opium Eater | Book Riot | |
| 102 | Connaissance par les gouffres | Ranker | |
| 103 | Contrary to Love: Helping the Sexual Addict | Sex Addict Help | |
| 104 | Contributing Factors of Drug Abuse | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 105 | Control Alcohol | Fit Recovery | |
| 106 | Craving for Ecstasy : How Our Passions Become Addictions and What We Can Do About Them | Sex Addict Help | |
| 107 | Crazy Town: Money. Marriage. Meth. | Sterling R. Braswell | Goodreads |
| 108 | Critters Cry Too | Anthony Curcio : | Moyer Foundation |
| 109 | Crooked Little Heart | Book Riot | |
| 110 | Cruddy | Book Riot | |
| 111 | Cruise Control: Understanding Sex Addiction in Gay Men | Sex Addict Help | |
| 112 | Cursed is the Road to the American Dream | Jack Deadmen | Goodreads |
| 113 | Cybersex Exposed: Simple Fantasy or Obsession? | Sex Addict Help | |
| 114 | Delicious Foods | Electric Literature | |
| 115 | Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction | Book Riot | |
| 116 | Diary of an Exercise Addict | Book Riot | |
| 117 | Disclosing Secrets: When, to Whom, and How Much to Reveal | Sex Addict Help | |
| 118 | Divine Innocence | Hammed Al-Tamimi | Goodreads |
| 119 | DJ Rising | Book Riot | |
| 120 | Doctor Dealer | Ranker | |
| 121 | Don’t Let Your Kids Kill You: A Guide for Parents of Drug and Alcohol Addicted Children | Charles Rubin : | Moyer Foundation |
| 122 | Don’t Call It Love: Recovery from Sexual Addiction | Sex Addict Help | |
| 123 | Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down: 50 Things Every Alcoholic and Addict in Early Recovery Should Know | Georgia W. | Harbor Village Florida |
| 124 | Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life | Solutions Recovery | |
| 125 | Don’t Let Your Kids Kill You: A Guide for Parents of Drug and Alcohol Addicted Children | Recovery | |
| 126 | Dope Girls | Ranker | |
| 127 | Dope Sick | Book Riot | |
| 128 | Dopefiend | Ranker | |
| 129 | Double Duty | Inspire Malibu | |
| 130 | Dream Brother: A Novel | Brian Marggraf | Goodreads |
| 131 | Drinking | Caroline Knapp | Above It All treatment |
| 132 | Drug Abuse & Memory Loss | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 133 | Drugs And The Mind | Ranker | |
| 134 | Drugs and the Party Line | Ranker | |
| 135 | Drugs, Behavior, and Modern Society | Ranker | |
| 136 | Drugs, society and human behavior: | Test Country | |
| 137 | Drunk Mom | Book Riot | |
| 138 | Easter Ann Peters’ Operation Cool | Jody Lamb (yours truly!) | Jody Lamb |
| 139 | Easy Way To Control Alcohol | Fit Recovery | |
| 140 | Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent Into Crystal Meth Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland | Chris Thrall | Goodreads |
| 141 | Effects of Alcoholism on the Central Nervous System | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 142 | Empowering Your Sober Self; The LifeRing Approach to Addiction Recovery | Inspire Malibu | |
| 143 | Essential Papers on Addiction | Inspire Malibu | |
| 144 | Even Tough Girls Wear Tutus | Book Riot | |
| 145 | Everything Changes: Help for Families of Newly Recovering Addicts | Clear Sky | |
| 146 | Evolution | Fit Recovery | |
| 147 | Facing the Dragon: How a Desperate Act Pulled One Addict Out of Methamphetamine Hell | David Parnell | Goodreads |
| 148 | False Intimacy: Understanding the Struggle of Sexual Addiction | Sex Addict Help | |
| 149 | Far From You | Book Riot | |
| 150 | Ferocity Summer | Book Riot | |
| 151 | Gabi, A Girl in Pieces | Book Riot | |
| 152 | Genius and Heroin: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 153 | Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir | Book Riot | |
| 154 | Go Ask Alice | Book Riot | |
| 155 | Graceland | Electric Literature | |
| 156 | Gun, Needle, Spoon | Electric Literature | |
| 157 | Happy Ending | David Rat | Goodreads |
| 158 | Hazeldon Meditation Series | Luxury Rehab Center | |
| 159 | Health Concerns of Long-term Drug Abuse | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 160 | Hero of the Underground: A Memoir | Jason Peter | Goodreads |
| 161 | Heroin, Hurricane Katrina, and the Howling Within | Eliza Player | Above It All treatment |
| 162 | Hole in my Life | Book Riot | |
| 163 | Hope and Recovery: A Twelve-Step Guide for Healing From Compulsive Sexual Behavior | Sex Addict Help | |
| 164 | How I Made it to Eighteen: A Mostly True Story | Book Riot | |
| 165 | How Our Help Line Works | Recovery | |
| 166 | How to Break Your Addiction to a Person | Howard Halpern | Nerdy Creator |
| 167 | How To Live Longer And Feel Better | Fit Recovery | |
| 168 | How to Murder Your Life | Book Riot | |
| 169 | How to Stop Time: Heroin from A to Z | Ranker | |
| 170 | How To Stop Worrying And Start Living | Fit Recovery | |
| 171 | I Swear I’ll Make It Up to You | Mishka Shubaly | Above It All treatment |
| 172 | I Want to Change My Life | Steven Melemis | Nerdy Creator |
| 173 | I Wish Daddy Didn’t Drink So Much | Judith Vigna | Jody Lamb |
| 174 | Ibogaine Explained: Everything You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Psychedelic | Clear Sky | |
| 175 | Identical: | Test Country | |
| 176 | In Hanuman’s Hands | Ranker | |
| 177 | In My Skin: A Memoir | Drug Rehab | |
| 178 | Indian Horse | Book Riot | |
| 179 | Inside the World of a Woman Born in Prison | Book Riot | |
| 180 | Intoxication | Fit Recovery | |
| 181 | ion | Book Riot | |
| 182 | Is It Love or is it Addiction? | Sex Addict Help | |
| 183 | It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions and Healing | Book Riot | |
| 184 | Jesus’ Son | Book Riot | |
| 185 | John Barleycorn | Book Riot | |
| 186 | Just for Today: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts | Solutions Recovery | |
| 187 | Last Night I Sang to the Monster | Book Riot | |
| 188 | Learning Not to Drown | Book Riot | |
| 189 | Legal Problems & Alcoholism | Futures Of Palm Beach | |
| 190 | Less Than Zero | Ranker | |
| 191 | Like a Diamond in the Sky | Shazia Omar | Five Books |
| 192 | Lonely All the Time: Recognizing, Understanding and Overcoming Sex Addiction, for Addicts and Codependents | Sex Addict Help | |
| 193 | Love and addiction | Ranker | |
| 194 | Love First: A New Approach to Intervention for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction (A Hazelden Guidebook) | Jeff Jay | Goodreads |
| 195 | Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey Through Sexual Addiction (W. W. Norton) | Sex Addict Help | |
| 196 | Love, Infidelity and Sexual Addiction: A Codependent’s Perspective | Sex Addict Help | |
| 197 | Many Roads, One Journey : Moving Beyond the Twelve Steps | Sex Addict Help | |
| 198 | Mastery | Fit Recovery | |
| 199 | Maya’s Notebook | Book Riot | |
| 200 | Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town | Book Riot | |
| 201 | Ministry: The Lost Gospels | Al Jourgensen | Signature Reads |
| 202 | Moth Smoke | Mohsin Hamid | Five Books |
| 203 | My Book of Life by Angel | Book Riot | |
| 204 | My Rehab Diary | James Weston | Goodreads |
| 205 | Nameless Indignities: Unraveling the Mystery of One of Illinois’s Most Infamous Crimes | Susan Elmore | Goodreads |
| 206 | NLP: The Essential Guide | Fit Recovery | |
| 207 | No More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction | Debra Jay | Goodreads |
| 208 | No Room To Live A Journey From Addiction To Recovery | Wynford Ellis Owen | Goodreads |
| 209 | Not This Time | Ranker | |
| 210 | NW | Book Riot | |
| 211 | On the Road | Jack Kerouac | Five Books |
| 212 | Only the Devil Tells the Truth | Jake Parent | Goodreads |
| 213 | Opiate Addiction – Reclaim Your Real Life: (Accelerate Opiate Withdrawal – Don’t Give Up, Your Life Is Worth It and There is Hope) | Clark Meyer | Goodreads |
| 214 | Opiate Addiction: The Painkiller Epidemic, Heroin Addiction, and the Way Out | Clear Sky | |
| 215 | Orange Is the New Black | Piper Kerman | Goodreads |
| 216 | Oulanem | Paul Majkut | Goodreads |
| 217 | Out of Reach | Book Riot | |
| 218 | Parched | Luxury Rehab Center | |
| 219 | PATHWAYS from the Culture of Addiction to the Culture of Recovery | Inspire Malibu | |
| 220 | Pill Head | Joshua Lyon | Above It All treatment |
| 221 | Pillbillies (Pillbillies, #1) | K.L. Randis | Goodreads |
| 222 | Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families | Sex Addict Help | |
| 223 | Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man: A Memoir | Bill Clegg | Goodreads |
| 224 | Postcards from the Edge | Book Riot | |
| 225 | Prozac Nation | Elizabeth Wurtzel | Sober Nation |
| 226 | Rabbit Ears | Book Riot | |
| 227 | Raiders Night | Book Riot | |
| 228 | Reclaiming Goddess Sexuality, The Power of the Feminine Way | Sex Addict Help | |
| 229 | Reclaiming VIRTUE: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 230 | Recovery Renewal: Your Essential Guide to Overcoming Dependency and Withdrawal from Sleeping Pills, Other ‘Benzo’ Tranquillisers and Antidepressants | Drug Rehab | |
| 231 | Recovery Road | Book Riot | |
| 232 | Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions | Drug Rehab | |
| 233 | Reefer Madness | Ranker | |
| 234 | Relapse Prevention: Maintenance Strategies in the Treatment of Addictive Behaviors | Sex Addict Help | |
| 235 | Rethinking Substance Abuse: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 236 | Rewire: Change Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior | Drug Rehab | |
| 237 | Rewired | Erica Spiegelman | Nerdy Creator |
| 238 | Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts | Liliane Desjardins | Goodreads |
| 239 | Running with Scissors | Augusten Burroughs | Sober Nation |
| 240 | Saint Iggy | Book Riot | |
| 241 | Saying Yes | Ranker | |
| 242 | Scar Tissue | Drug Rehab | |
| 243 | Services Research in the Era of Managed Care | Ranker | |
| 244 | Sex Addiction: Case Studies and Management | Sex Addict Help | |
| 245 | Shards | Book Riot | |
| 246 | Sirens | Book Riot | |
| 247 | Smack | Book Riot | |
| 248 | Smashed | Koren Zailckas | Above It All treatment |
| 249 | Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood | Koren Zailckas | Sober Nation |
| 250 | Sober Identity by Lisa Neumann | Luxury Rehab Center | |
| 251 | Social Work With Drug And Substance Misusers | Ranker | |
| 252 | Something in the Way | Preston Peet | Goodreads |
| 253 | Son of a Trickster | Book Riot | |
| 254 | Songs Only You Know | Sean Madigan Hoen | Signature Reads |
| 255 | Soul Recovery: 12 Keys to Healing Addiction. A Journey from Dependence and Despair to Awakening, Wholeness, Sobriety, and Success | Ester Nicholson | Goodreads |
| 256 | State of emergency | Ranker | |
| 257 | Step Up: Unpacking Steps 1-3 with Someone Who’s Been There | Drug Rehab | |
| 258 | Stoney the Pony | Linda Myers : | Moyer Foundation |
| 259 | Stop the Chaos Workbook | Inspire Malibu | |
| 260 | Storming Heaven | Ranker | |
| 261 | Symptoms of Withdrawal | Solutions Recovery | |
| 262 | Tales of Addiction and Inspiration for Recovery: Twenty True Stories from the Soul | Barbara Sinor | Goodreads |
| 263 | Tall Tales | Karen Day | Jody Lamb |
| 264 | Teen drug abuse | Ranker | |
| 265 | Teenage Degenerate | S.C. Sterling | Goodreads |
| 266 | Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism | Book Riot | |
| 267 | The 6 Pillars Of Self-Esteem | Fit Recovery | |
| 268 | The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian | Book Riot | |
| 269 | The Acid Diary | Daniel S. Fletcher | Goodreads |
| 270 | The Addiction Workbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Quitting Alcohol and Drugs: | Test Country | |
| 271 | The Addictive Organization: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 272 | The Addictive Personality | Craig Nakken | Nerdy Creator |
| 273 | The Alchemist | Paul Coelho | Five Books |
| 274 | The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure: | Test Country | |
| 275 | The Bitter Taste of Dying | Book Riot | |
| 276 | The Brown Bottle | Penny Jones : | Moyer Foundation |
| 277 | The Craving Brain: Science, Spirituality, and the Road to Recovery | Clear Sky | |
| 278 | The Curse of Lono | Book Riot | |
| 279 | The Dance of Anger | Solutions Recovery | |
| 280 | The Emperor Wears No Clothes | Ranker | |
| 281 | The Fifth Agreement: A Practical Guide to Self-Mastery | Solutions Recovery | |
| 282 | The Fix: Under the Nixon Administration, America Had an Effective Drug Policy. We Should Restore It. (Nixon Was Right) | Ranker | |
| 283 | The Forever Fight: On Drugs, Alcohol and the Cycle of Addiction | K.J. Gordon | Goodreads |
| 284 | The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom | Solutions Recovery | |
| 285 | The Fuck-Up | Arthur Nersesian | Goodreads |
| 286 | The Girl Behind the Painted Smile: My battle with the bottle | Catherine Lockwood | Goodreads |
| 287 | The Girl on the Train | Book Riot | |
| 288 | The Glass Castle | Book Riot | |
| 289 | The Globalization of Addiction | Inspire Malibu | |
| 290 | The Good House | Book Riot | |
| 291 | The Happy Addict: How to be Happy in Recovery from Alcoholism or Drug Addiction | Beth Burgess | Goodreads |
| 292 | The Harder They Fall: Celebrities Tell Their Real-Life Stories of Addiction and Recovery | Book Riot | |
| 293 | The Hate U Give | Book Riot | |
| 294 | The Hidden Keys | Book Riot | |
| 295 | The Impossible Knife of Memory | Book Riot | |
| 296 | The Joey Song: A Mother’s Story of Her Son’s Addiction | Sandra Swenson | Goodreads |
| 297 | The Lesser Spotted Addict | Daniel Groenewald | Goodreads |
| 298 | The Light | Robert Hammond | Goodreads |
| 299 | The Los Angeles Diaries | James Brown | Above It All treatment |
| 300 | The Man With the Golden Arm | Nelson Algren | Signature Reads |
| 301 | The Medical Librarian’s Guide to Natural Mental Health | William Jiang | Goodreads |
| 302 | The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery: A Practical Guide to Regaining Control Over Your Life | Lawrence Peltz | Harbor Village Florida |
| 303 | The Misfortunates | Book Riot | |
| 304 | The Mood Cure | Fit Recovery | |
| 305 | The natural mind | Ranker | |
| 306 | The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness | Book Riot | |
| 307 | The Orange Eats Creeps | Book Riot | |
| 308 | The phoenix solution | Ranker | |
| 309 | The Pleasure Addicts: The Addictive Process–Food, Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Work, and More | Sex Addict Help | |
| 310 | The politics of heroin | Ranker | |
| 311 | The Secret of Life: Commonsense Advice for Uncommon Women | Ranker | |
| 312 | The Secret Sin: Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction | Sex Addict Help | |
| 313 | The Sex Addiction Workbook: Proven Strategies to Help You Regain Control of Your Life | Sex Addict Help | |
| 314 | The Shining | Book Riot | |
| 315 | The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference | Irene Watson | Goodreads |
| 316 | The Spectacular Now | Book Riot | |
| 317 | The Spirituality of Imperfection: | Inspire Malibu | |
| 318 | The Splendid Things We Planned | Book Riot | |
| 319 | The Taste Of Metal | Joe Hnida | Goodreads |
| 320 | The Tender Bar | Book Riot | |
| 321 | The Tennis Partner | Book Riot | |
| 322 | The Trip to Echo Spring | Olivia Laing | Signature Reads |
| 323 | The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions by Alcoholics Anonymous | Luxury Rehab Center | |
| 324 | The Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction | Book Riot | |
| 325 | The Undiscovered Self | Fit Recovery | |
| 326 | The Vitamin Cure For Alcoholism | Fit Recovery | |
| 327 | The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance | Book Riot | |
| 328 | Think And Grow Rich | Fit Recovery | |
| 329 | This Naked Mind: Alcohol Exposed Drink Less, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness And Change Your Life. | Annie Grace | Goodreads |
| 330 | Time Salvager | Book Riot | |
| 331 | Toward a Psychology of Being | Abraham H. Maslow | Harbor Village Florida |
| 332 | Trauma and Recovery; The aftermath of violence | Inspire Malibu | |
| 333 | Treating Addicted Survivors of Trauma | Sex Addict Help | |
| 334 | Truth and Beauty | Ann Patchett | Signature Reads |
| 335 | Unlimited Power | Fit Recovery | |
| 336 | unSweetined | Jodie Sweetin, Jon Warech | Above It All treatment |
| 337 | Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety | Book Riot | |
| 338 | Up and Down the Mountain | Pamela Leib Higgins | Jody Lamb |
| 339 | Up from Down: A True Story of Recovery from Addiction | Drug Rehab | |
| 340 | Valley of the Dolls | Book Riot | |
| 341 | Very LeFreak | Book Riot | |
| 342 | Waiting For Normal | Leslie Connor | Jody Lamb |
| 343 | Wake Up Sir | Book Riot | |
| 344 | What’s Left of Us | Richard Farrell | Goodreads |
| 345 | When A Family Is In Trouble | Marge Heegaard | Jody Lamb |
| 346 | When AA Doesn’t Work For You: Rational Steps to Quitting Alcohol | Albert Ellis | Sober Nation |
| 347 | When Painkillers Become Dangerous | Ranker | |
| 348 | Where it Began | Book Riot | |
| 349 | Whiteout | Ranker | |
| 350 | Why marijuana should be legal | Ranker | |
| 351 | Wild | Cheryl Strayed | Above It All treatment |
| 352 | Wishes and Worries: Coping with a Parent Who Drinks Too Much Alcohol | the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health | Jody Lamb |
| 353 | Wishful Drinking | Carrie Fisher | Above It All treatment |
| 354 | Women, Sex, and Addiction: A Search for Love and Power | Sex Addict Help | |
| 355 | Writers on the Edge: 22 Writers Speak about Addiction and Dependency | Diana Raab | Goodreads |
| 356 | Writing on drugs | Ranker | |
| 357 | You Are Not Your Brain | Fit Recovery | |
| 358 | Your Brain on Porn | Gary Wilson | Nerdy Creator |
| 359 | Zoo Station: The Story of Christiane F. | Christiane F. | Goodreads |
24 Best Addiction Book Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| Above It All treatment | The 20 Best Addiction & Recovery Memoirs – Above It All Treatment … |
| Book Riot | 100 Must-Read Books About Addiction – Book Riot |
| Clear Sky Recovery | 12 Must Read Books on Addiction and Recovery |
| Drug Rehab | 14 Books About Addiction and Recovery – DrugRehab.com |
| Electric Literature | Six Powerful Books about Addiction and Recovery That Will Make You … |
| Fit Recovery | Best Books For Alcoholism – Top 20 Books To Transcend Addiction … |
| Five Books | The Best Books on Drug Addiction | Five Books |
| Futures Of Palm Beach | 5 Best Books on Addiction – Futures of Palm Beach |
| Goodreads | Best Addiction Books (62 books) – Goodreads |
| Harbor Village Florida | Top 5 Addiction Recovery Books – Harbor Village Detox |
| Inspire Malibu | Top 25 Books On Drug and Alcohol Addiction – Inspire Malibu |
| Jody Lamb | Best books for children about addiction – Jody Lamb |
| Luxury Rehab Center | The 10 Best Books about Addiction – Luxury Drug & Alcohol Rehab … |
| Moyer Foundation | Top 10 Books on Addiction | Moyer Foundation |
| Nerdy Creator | Best Books on Addiction Recovery | Nerdy Creator Bookclub |
| New Start Recovery | 5 Best Books on Addiction and Recovery – New Start Recovery |
| Ranker | Drug Addiction Books: List of Books About Drug Addiction – Ranker |
| Recovery | 6 Essential Books for Those with an Addicted Loved One – Recovery.org |
| Sex Addict Help | Resource Books – Recommended Reading – Sex Addiction Therapy … |
| Signature Reads | Kicking the Habit: 10 of the Best Books on Addiction – Signature Reads |
| Sober Nation | 10 Best Books on Addiction and Recovery – Sober Nation |
| Solutions Recovery | Recommended Reading for Addiction Recovery – Solutions Recovery |
| Test Country | Top 10 Best Books For Addiction Recovery – TestCountry |
| Work It Health | 6 Best Books on Addiction To Break Down Stigma and Open Your … |
