Recovery: Freedom From Our Addictions

Description

This is the age of addiction, a condition so epidemic, so all encompassing and ubiquitous that unless you are fortunate enough to be an extreme case, you probably don't know that you have it. What unhealthy habits and attachments are holding your life together? Are you unconsciously dependent on food? Bad relationships? A job that doesn't fulfill you? Numb, constant perusal of your phone, looking for what? My qualification for writing this book is not that I am better than you, it's that I am worse. I am an addict, addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, money, love and fame. The program in Twelve has given Russell Brand freedom from all addictions and it will do the same for you. This system offers nothing less than liberation from self-centredness, a new perspective, freedom from the illusion of suffering for anyone who is willing to take the necessary steps.

Russell Brand is a comedian and an addict. He's been addicted to drugs, sex, fame, money and power. Even now as a father, fourteen and a half years into recovery he still writes about himself in the third person and that can't be healthy. Recovery is his fourth book. He still performs as a comic and is studying for an MA in Religion in Global Politics. He has two cats, a dog, a wife, two babies, ten chickens and 60 thousand bees in spite of being vegan curious. He is certain that the material world is an illusion but still keeps licking the walls of the hologram.

This is a brave and useful book, that I read in one day. It offers real insight into addiction and the stuff that drives it and Russell has done a great service in tackling the classic twelve steps in a non-reverential and totally entertaining kind of way that will help a lot of people. It feels wrong to say it is an addictive read, given the subject, but it really is. Russell doesn't just want to save our souls he wants to entertain us on the way. -- Matt Haig, author of How to Stop Time and Reasons to Stay Alive Recovery should be read by the world -- Ruby Wax A thought-provoking explication of the 12-step program -- New York Times The premise of his programme is that the 12 steps followed by Alcoholics Anonymous can work for anyone. Recovery is the 12 steps, as translated by Russell Brand. -- Sunday Times Personally it always struck me as a bit unfair that only raging alcoholics and hopeless drug addicts got to practice the 12 steps, given how they provide such an invaluable emotional toolbox - now, thanks to the vision (his critics might say the ego) of Russell Brand, they are available to all. -- Suzanne Harrington, Irish Examiner There is no better lesson to be learnt than by someone who has lived it. And with that in mind, Russell Brand is a man to listen to. Carefully. Beneath the performance he talks sense. A lot of it. -- Stylist While the insights are not original, the experience of them is unique and it's Brand's own story that gives the book its energy. For anyone with an abiding interest in Russell Brand. -- The Observer Russell Brand brings an exhaustive and profound understanding of what it means to be felled by addiction and how to stand back up again. It is potentially there in all of us. -- Men's Health One of his most endearing qualities is his emotional honesty - his openness about his flaws and ignorance, and his confidence despite them. -- CALM Yum Yum Yum. Russell is an example of how the path of recovery and the spiritual path can be one and the same, a path towards inner love and freedom from attachment. -- Ram Dass Recovery conveys the kind of pointed wisdom that usually comes from having woken up to our suffering, and is therefore real. Outspoken, outrageous and courageous all at once, reading it is likely to jolt you into seeing things in a new way. And you will find that this new way will include, in the most natural, unfeigned manner, a sincere wish to be of service to others. -- Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Love and Real Happiness If you do not consider yourself to be an addict in the traditional sense, don't let that stop you from reading this book. Through the prism of his own experiences with addiction, eating disorders and abuse, Russell has captured essential, universal truths about modern society and the human condition. There is something here for everyone. He draws on wisdom throughout the ages and makes it relevant to the age of social media. Recovery manages to be both beautifully written and accessible. This is, in my opinion, Russell's finest written work to date -- Natasha Devon MBE, mental health campaigner and author of A Beginner's Guide to Being Mental Recovery is a beautifully written book with a message about the human condition that will strike a chord with many, if not all, of us. -- Ruth Hughes, Express Lays open a path to recovery for all -- the I A fresh perspective on moving past addiction. -- Healthline Russell Brand's book may be based on recovery from addictions including drugs, alcohol and fame but it also takes a look at those who may be addicted to their phones and the possible reasons why. It's a look at ways to break free from whatever your addiction is, and not to be bound by it - whether that's to look the best you can all the time or whether your life is putting everything on Instagram -- Cosmopolitan