When you think of readings for classes, you think of scholarly articles and textbooks typically (at least I do). Occasionally, professors will request students to have a “fun” book or have students read a chosen book for a report or group project. It’s rare when a professor just gives students parameters and allows them to select a book, but even then it’s a hit-or-miss situation sometimes. Those were my thoughts exactly at the beginning of the fall semester. For one of my Sociology classes, the professor assigned us to read a book that pertained to the course content, drugs ad society. I was not happy about the idea at all. For one, documentary books are far from what I typically read, and two, the subject. I did not think I would find a book that was a more positive tone.
Well, I did find one. I found one that has become a favorite book for me. The book is about the author/entrepreneur Anna David, who wrote the book about her struggle with addiction to the work she put in to be sober. The title is the first thing that makes you stop and look at this book because it’s blunt. The title of the book is “How to Get Successful by F***ing Up Your Life.” As I said, it is brash and attention-grabbing. It’s also long, so for this article, it will be referred to as “HGSFUYL.” What attracted me the most and that made me enjoy the book was the tone she utilized in her writing. She wrote the book as if she were sitting with you telling you a long story, how she talked. I loved this. Anna was also very blunt, does not hold back, and was very matter-of-fact in her writing too. She split her book into three sections: “What it was like,” “What happened,” and “What it’s like now.”
The first section of the book, Anna tells some detailed stories and what she was like and what she did as a drug addict. It was interesting to read because she described how it felt and what was in her head when she was using. The second section of the book, “What happened,” explains two important portions of her life. In the beginning, she tells her audience the end of her using and what made her stop. She tells some really good stories in this section and is completely open about how she felt about programs initially and what they came to mean to her. The last few stories describe getting sober. The third section of her book tells us her life after getting sober. What it was like starting out at first, what it takes for her to stay sober, how and what she learned about herself, and how she has created her life as it is. This section is amazing to read in my opinion, because she tells you in detail what she’s like as a person and knows her own mind. It’s incredible to see someone get to that level for any reason. For a person to be able to tell someone how aware she is about how she self-sabotages and how she handles it. That takes a lot of work.
This book is a great read. I am going to look into what other work she has done now, too. I liked reading the book because it gave me a viewpoint that I will never experience. It was getting inside her head to see how addiction works, what it does to a person, and the emotions that go with it. It also changed my opinion on the people I have come into contact with who are recovering, too. I hope you decide to read this book to experience and learn new things.