Author and journalist David Sheff discusses the new paperback edition of his bestselling book Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, his fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional rollercoaster of loving a child who seems beyond help.
Nic Sheff discusses his memoir Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
Bio
David Sheff
Beautiful Boy is based on David Sheff's article "My Addicted Son," which appeared in the New York Times Magazine. The article won a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addictions from the American Psychological Association and inspired (and continues to inspire) hundreds of letters from readers, many of whom are suffering from addiction or the addiction of a loved one.
Beautiful Boy, a number-1 New York Times Best Seller, was named the Best Nonfiction Book of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. Sheff's research and writing about this subject is ongoing; most recently, he contributed to the HBO book Addiction: Why Can't They Just Stop.
Along with The New York Times Magazine, Sheff, a contributing editor to Playboy, has also written for The New York Times, Wired, Fortune, Rolling Stone, Outside, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Esquire and Observer Magazine in England, Foreign Literature in Russia, and Playboy (Shueisha) in Japan. He has conducted seminal interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, nuclear physicist Ted Taylor, Congressman Barney Frank, Steve Jobs, Ansel Adams, Thomas Friedman, the founders of Google, Tom Hanks, Betty Friedan, Keith Haring, Jack Nicholson, Carl Sagan, Larry Ellison, Salman Rushdie, and others. He also wrote an award-winning documentary about John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath for National Public Radio, and wrote and edited Heart Play: Unfinished Dialogue, which won a Grammy Award nomination for Best Spoken Word Recording of 1984.
Nic Sheff
Nic Sheff is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Still in his early twenties, he continues to fight daily battles with his addictions. His writing has been published in Newsweek, Nerve, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Tweak is his first book.
Physical and/or psychological dependency on a psychoactive (mind-altering) substance (e.g., alcohol, narcotics, nicotine), defined as continued use despite knowing that the substance causes harm. Physical dependency results when the body builds up a tolerance to a drug, needing increasing doses to achieve the desired effects and to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Psychological dependency may have more to do with one's psychological makeup; some people may have a genetic tendency to addiction. The most common addictions are to alcohol (seealcoholism), barbiturates, tranquilizers, and amphetamines, as well as to the stimulants nicotine and caffeine. Initial treatment (detoxification) should be conducted with medical supervision. Individual and group psychotherapy are critical elements. Alcoholics Anonymous and similar support groups can increase the success rate of other efforts. The ability to admit addiction and the will to change are necessary first steps.
I have just finished both books. They are both written professionally, are page turners and written in a manner anyone who can read will understand, without being condescending. I have read many memoirs, these are both excellent and humbling for they are concrete reminders not to judge other people and/or their families of origin - for no one in this world is free from potential disaster due to addiction when the ugly head rears itself and take's hold. I strongly am recommending both books to all friends and family I care about. To say conceited and poorly written puzzles me. These books exhibit great humility and excellent ability to write the reality as each author experienced it and was willing to put down, send out and get published for us all to benefit by. Thank you David and Nic Sheff...from the heart
The father said that he did a lot of drugs himself when he was younger, is this evidence for the genetic contibution of addicions? Or is there a familiar (environmental) contribution here? We now know that cannibus is not an innocuous drug, there is an association between its use and psychosis.
I enjoyed listening to this very well put together presentation, but I have reservations.
This talk is interesting, but I'm not hearing much in the way of new ideas. The pot "gateway drug" line has largely been discredited yet now I'm seeing it resurrected once again. Why is alcohol not considered a gateway drug to cocaine? Why not nicotine and speed? I just don't get the special correlation that pot is percieved to have with other drugs. I think the accessibility of pot has made it the most likely starting point for people looking to get high and that is where this gateway idea came about. Unfortunately this will change now that other hard drugs are getting cheaper and more accessible to kids. But cocaine will never been seen as a gateway drug. Why? Because it is actually dangerous on its own and can kill you.
I am happy that they are at least nodding at the root of the problem... that being an inability to cope with life... but for the most part this is yet another "drugs are bad m'kay" spiel. Why is no one looking for reasons that he felt inadequate. What concern could his parents not address. Could it simply be that society, his peers, or parents are setting up impossible narrow and rigid standards for what constitutes an acceptable and normal person? That said I don't believe that there is one reason why people do this to themselves. Users run the gamut from the overly "sensitive" to the overly bored so each should be considered individually.
So I find this to be just another tragic tale for helplessly ignorant parents and emotionally confused kids to relate to. While that is a good thing I worry what lasting perceptual damage is being done for the sake of consolation.
member. 
