“Addiction is a lonely pain, and perhaps the only hope for curing this soul-sickness is to reach out and try to cope with the world outside the darkness. The best-written essays in the collection . . . demonstrate this most strikingly, and may go some way toward making that healing possible.” – Quill and Quire

The best-selling collection about addiction featuring three new essays on marijuana, video games, and sex.

Is addiction a disease, a sin, a sign of hypersensitivity, a personal failing, or a unique resource for the creative mind? However it is defined, it can have devastating consequences, often shattering lives, ruining families, wrecking livelihoods, and even triggering suicide. Yet it can also be a source of inspiration. In this updated edition featuring three new essays, on addiction to marijuana, video games, and sex, leading American and Canadian writers explore their surprisingly diverse personal experiences with this complex phenomenon, and candidly reveal what happened when their compulsions took over their lives.

Includes essays by Crozier and Lane, as well as Tom Bissell, Susan Cheever, Peter Gzowski, Molly Jong-Fast, Evelyn Lau, Elianna Lev, LesLIE, John Newlove, Stephen Reid, David Adams Richards, Lois Simmie, Sheri-d Wilson, Rick Whitaker and Marnie Woodrow.

From the Far Side of the River

Chest-Deep in Little Fish and Big Ideas