Clean

Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy

By: David Sheff

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

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, a myth-shattering look at drug abuse by the author of Beautiful Boy. Based on the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine, Clean is a leap beyond the traditional approaches to prevention and treatment of addiction and the mental illnesses that usually accompany it. The existing treatment system, including Twelve-Step programs and rehabs, has helped some, but it has failed to help many more, and David Sheff explains why. He spent time with scores of scientists, doctors, counselors, and addicts and their families to learn how addiction works and what can effectively treat it. Clean offers clear, cogent counsel for parents and others who want to prevent drug problems and for addicts and their loved ones no matter what stage of the illness they’re in. But it is also a book for all of us - a powerful rethinking of the greatest public-health challenge of our time.

©2013 David Sheff (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Wow enlightening

I am dealing with a son who is an addict This book is extraordinary in such a way that the information an the way it it is presented has incalculable benefits for us. Thank you for this incredible resource for us in our battle to harness the addiction!

helpful

as an addict myself, i had been struggling, thus gave me answers I needed and longed for. when people asked me why I did what I do I was skeptical to say i had a disease bc I cldnt explain or prove that it was. I was in complete dispare. AA was helpful but not enough, now I feel like i know what to do next. i dont want to use drugs and now i have hope again that my body wont want to either.

Horrible narration

I couldn't get through more than 1/4 of this book--not because the subject matter wasn't interesting, but because the narration was unbearable. The narrator read it like he was reading characters in a novel, but adding all sorts of inappropriate inflection everywhere. I still really want to read this book and will get the physical book to read myself at some point. If you're really interested in this subject, I suggest you do the same.

I couldn't finish it because of the performance...

What made the experience of listening to Clean the most enjoyable?

Hearing stories of addiction.

Were the concepts of this book easy to follow, or were they too technical?

Not too technical for me.

What didn’t you like about Jeff Cummings’s performance?

There's this weird thing with some voiceover artists where they feel every single character needs a "different" voice, but their versions of those voices are annoying and odd.There seems to be a weird "female" voice affected by some male narrators that doesn't sounds like any female voice I've ever heard. It's really hard to focus through that weird affectation.Even some of the "male" voices are achieved by trying to speak in a lower voice, but it just comes off as amateur.I wish people would just read the book and not worry so much about changing their voice. Or...if they ARE going to change their voices for each character, they should be careful of not making every female character sound like a wimp and deep-voiced male character sound inauthentic.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No...and due to my annoyance with the reader, I don't plan to finish. I only made it to chapter 3.

Any additional comments?

I have to listen more closely to the samples before I but an audiobook. This disappointment happens often enough that it's starting to make me wary.

loved it! great for audible.

This was a very informative book which helped me better understand what is known about substance use. This expanded my personal and professional education and also opened my mind up to what adolescents would benefit from in terms of education. Great read for social workers. 👌👍👏