Recovery Books

Written by a certified addiction counselor, this book provides a roadmap for getting sober and preventing relapse.

This powerful book explores how to accept yourself fully and develop the courage and compassion to know that you are enough.

Written by a member of Secular Organizations for Sobriety, this non-12-step book has practical daily readings and recovery support to help you make sobriety a priority each day. It guides you on how to cope with different issues without drinking or using drugs.

An inspiring yet practical book on the role 12-step programs, prayer, getting professional support and volunteering play in recovery. It helps you combat persistent negative thinking and motivates you with helpful exercises for change.

Drawing on research, expert interviews, and personal stories, Sober Curious takes on the myths that keep people drinking. It asks questions and empowers people to transform their relationship with alcohol.

McKowen writes about how she faced her pain and anxiety in order to get and stay sober. Without making her struggles sound easy, her focus is on the blessings of living an honest life, without secrets and shame.

The book broadens the goals of sobriety to include repairing the physical damage caused by alcohol. Topics include Why You Need to Eat Nutritious Foods; Foods that Help You Repair, Renew, and Recover; Goals of Recovery Eating and the Daily Eating Plan and Recipes.

This 3-stage program may enhance recovery through nutritional supplements that help balance biochemicals in the brain. It works to reduce cravings, cleanse the body of toxins, and correct nutritional imbalances that support long-term results. Questionnaires help readers identify which supplements may help them in the recovery process.

Explains how and why exercise and diet produce faster physical, mental and emotional recovery from addiction. Eating healthy foods prevents mood swings that can trigger a relapse and corrects nutritional imbalances caused by addiction that harm the body.

A guide to achieving physical recovery as part of your path to lifelong sobriety. Matesa provides simple, effective ways for those in recovery to heal the damage caused by substance use. She offers a roadmap to creating your own approach to physical recovery and lifelong sobriety.

Focusing on drug and alcohol addiction as a disease, the book presents a seven-week program aimed at the root of addiction issues caused by imbalances in brain chemicals and nutritional deficiencies. It addresses the cravings, depression, anxiety, and mood swings that can make sobriety so hard to sustain.

This is the shared story from the two perspectives of a mother and daughter recovering from addiction. Recovery tools and healing strategies offer guidance and hope to those involved in the recovery process – a good resource for any family dealing with addiction issues.

This memoir is a combination of total honesty and raw humor. It's about giving up the thing you cherish most--but getting yourself back in return.

William Moyers, a journalist and the son of Bill Moyers, tells his story of being in the grips of alcohol and drug addiction. He provides insight into addiction as a disease, the denial and relapses – but with a sense of hope that you can recover. This is an honest look at addiction for anyone in recovery and for their family. Moyers went on to become the vice president for external affairs at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota.

The story describes Givens descent into drug abuse and how it destroys his life. It is also about redemption and life after drugs. Givens offers hope to those caught in addiction by reducing the process of addiction and recovery down to its elements. The book inspires and challenges anyone with an addiction to consider the possibility of living a clean and sober life.

An honest day to day recounting of the first 30 days of recovery from drug addiction. Maintaining sobriety during this time is often a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, or minute-by-minute process. It is a time of cravings and raw emotions that had been avoided or ignored - and one of struggles, challenges, and hope.

The powerful story of a mother’s struggle to save her son from addiction—and the strength and hope for change that she found in her grief.

This book records the life and struggles of a seriously addicted man. He shows how the incurable nature of addiction can surprisingly motivate and inspire all those with a substance use disorder to begin recovery. Hamilton eventually became a founding member of Narcotics Anonymous in South Africa.

A personal account of how the author discovered that long distance running helped more than alcohol or drugs in coping with self loathing, deep anxiety and his inner demons.

In this account of the first 18 months of sobriety, Muls describes his work with a therapist who helped him confront destructive beliefs about himself and life in general - and the role they had played in his long-term addiction and struggle with recovery.

In this thoroughly researched biography of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Cheever creates a portrait of a man whose life and work saved the lives of millions of people. Drawn from personal letters and diaries, archives, and hundreds of interviews, this is the first fully documented account of Bill Wilson's life story.

The author, a Certified Addiction Coach, brings many years of experience working with women to address the key life issues mothers face at all stages of their recovery. Combining practical advice with helpful stories of recovering moms, including the author’s own, it offers guidance on over 50 topics, including stress, relapse, parenting, relationships, sex and intimacy, spirituality, shame, gratitude, and dating.

This powerful story reflects two perspectives: the experiences of a young teen dealing with an older brother who is addicted to heroin and the personal poems and songs of that older brother that head each chapter. This is a raw look at the pain experienced on both sides of the life of addiction.

Written by a single mother of two (a registered nurse) and her son Tommy who is addicted to heroin. It describes his life of chasing the high and her life of chasing after him. They hope their collaboration will offer help and encouragement to others struggling with addiction. This story is factual, graphic and real.

This is the story of a nurse moving from addiction to recovery. It describes the pain of living through a punishing disciplinary process to preserve her nursing license after her theft of narcotics from the hospital where she worked. It shows how addiction impacted her sanity and her career, and the traumatic effect of her secrets and lies on her marriage for over twenty years.

Dee Burton, PhD is a psychologist who developed the American Cancer Society’s Fresh Start quit-smoking program. Each chapter of this guide gives you strategies to help you deal with the ways you may be feeling when you give up smoking so you can succeed with as little discomfort as possible.

Nakken uncovers what all addictions have in common and how they develop over time. The book covers genetic factors tied to addiction; the effect of the beliefs and norms of your culture on addictive behaviors; how the disease continues to develop; and steps to a successful recovery.

Using case studies, the author exposes the irrational and contradictory patterns of addictive thinking, and shows how to overcome them and the barriers they create – low self-esteem and relapse.

Sheff talked with scientists, doctors, counselors, and people with a substance use disorder and their families to learn how addiction works and how to treat it. He found it is almost always the result of people starting to use early, genetics, stress, trauma, mental illness, or a combination of these. He concludes that drugs are a symptom, not a cause, and whatever problems underlie them need to be addressed.

A clinical psychologist describes how to gain back emotional stability after growing up with the trauma of addiction and abuse. Dr. Dayton explains the research and how trauma chemically changes the brain. The book teaches you how to rewire your brain to help undo the negative effects of trauma and how to manage your feelings in healthy ways.

Using the voices of people who are struggling with the difficult first year of sobriety, this book explores the challenges all seem to face – living with loneliness, isolation, and fear and finding ways to deal with anger, depression, and resentment. Despite their differences, all are united in the process of giving life without alcohol or other drugs a chance and reaching a new level of happiness.

Through patients’ stories, the author’s personal experience with addiction and Buddhist teachings, Mate concludes that people who use alcohol or drugs are trying to fill a void inside themselves - and that recovery requires a mind/spirit approach. He looks at how personal history, emotional development, brain chemistry, and drugs set the stage for a substance use disorder - and how society tries to punish addiction rather than treat it.

Written by a recovery coach with over 30 years of experience, Valli shares a road map for long-term change and living a fulfilling, alcohol-free life. This is a practical and straightforward program on how to stop drinking, stay sober, and develop the skills to deal with your emotions and life’s up and downs.

This book teaches those in long term recovery how to use the power of writing to stay sober. Using simple and practical steps, the workbook combines writing in a personal journal with a focus on goals to help people make positive changes that are meaningful to them. Moynihan is a former NYC police officer who worked with the police department for 10 years helping them cope with substance abuse and other mental health issues.

Geared to helping those with addictions in all stages of recovery, the book contains practical tools that describe patterns of addictive thinking – and suggests specific action steps to develop healthier, sober thinking. It is a simple and practical guide that combines 25 life-recovery tools and real-life stories on how these tools have been applied.

“Dear Friend” was written by a marine fighter pilot in recovery for over 50 years. It is a collection of meditations he presented in a weekly journal format. Sandy was a speaker for AA and his talks and recordings focused on guiding people in recovery on a spiritual path through the 12 steps. He is best known for his talk “Drop the Rock.”

Written by an addiction psychiatrist who is in recovery, the book is based on Buddhist teachings. It focuses on how the mind works, tools for helping the mind vulnerable to addiction, and ways to overcome addictive and obsessive behavior. It emphasizes developing a calm, clear mind for the lifelong process of sobriety. This is a spiritual path to recovery for people of any faith tradition as well as those who are not religious.

Written by a medical doctor, the book explains the benefits of Kundalini yoga and how the power of medical meditation heals body, mind and soul. It is a strong tool to use in recovery. Special yoga postures and movements, sounds to help you focus (mantras) and specific breathing patterns can change the chemical processes in your body and ease you into a calm, healing state.

This MP3 download was created by two licensed psychologists and mindfulness teachers who have combined these fields to address addiction. It explores what mindfulness is and how it works with triggers, cravings and urges. Three guided meditation practices are provided to help you cope with addiction-related cravings.

Written by two longtime therapists, this self-help book works with or without 12-step programs. After a brief explanation of Taoism (a Chinese philosophy and religion), the authors present the concept of the Tao, a Chinese term meaning "the way." The Tao is an ideal vehicle for attaining and maintaining freedom from substance addiction. Provides stories, exercises (meditations, questions to explore, affirmations) and real-life applications of Taoist principles to recovery.

Based on a Christian perspective of healing, the title of the book comes from 1 Thessalonians 1:9. The book presents Jesus as the ultimate alternative to addiction, the link to the true living God. The process presented is a simple formula found in every ‘program’ or list of steps, here refined into three elements: reasoning, repentance, and rejoicing. The main focus that gives strength to a biblical process of recovery is the element of reverence towards God.

A collection of hundreds of sayings and quotes heard in 12-step meetings that impart practical wisdom on staying sober and developing your spiritual life. It acts as a guide on looking deeper and a daily support in the process.

Applying the principles of Zen to the 12-step philosophy of recovery, this book offers inspiration to achieve spiritual fulfillment and peace. Drawing from his lifetime of experience as an abused child, alcoholic, Zen student, and dharma teacher, Ash gives readers a solid grounding in the Twelve Steps and the Eightfold Path of Buddhism and shows how similar they are for those in recovery.