A worthwhile book for readers looking for alternative ways to help those struggling with addiction.
Documentary filmmaker Palmer, with addiction therapist Pond, presents a practical guide for helping loved ones drink less, informed by scientific research and firsthand experience.
Most addicts are familiar with 12-step programs, which offer a set of actions and principles meant to pave the way to recovery. For example, Alcoholics Anonymous encourages members to list people who’ve been negatively affected by their drinking and to seek amends. Meanwhile, the loved ones of addicts, in their own support groups, are often told to “withdraw with love” to counteract what’s often described as “codependent” or “enabling” behavior—two words that Palmer condemns as “blithely tossed about” in the world of addiction and recovery. She outlines what she characterizes as a tender approach, using 20 “practical, science-backed strategies that operationalize kindness, compassion, and empathy to help your loved one drink less.” Palmer wrote the book with her partner, Pond, an addiction therapist whose personal struggle with conventional recovery programs inspired this alternative approach. For instance, instead of working toward a goal of flat-out quitting, Palmer explores the benefits of harm reduction; instead of encouraging withdrawing with love, she makes a case for establishing firm boundaries, which, she says, allows addicts to take responsibility for their recovery. Supported by research from institutions such as Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, this plainspoken self-help guide offers a balance of personal and clinical reflection: “I can’t possibly teach you things that good therapists take years to learn,” Palmer writes, “but I can tell you about simple tools and techniques that can make your interactions with your loved one much less combative and much more effective.” Indeed, although the authors would agree that no one set of guidelines suits everyone, this book’s ethos may inspire readers to seek out more personalized methods of support.
A worthwhile book for readers looking for alternative ways to help those struggling with addiction.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781774584668
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Page Two
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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