The Weight of Air, David Poses
The Weight of Air, David Poses
2 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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The Weight of Air
A Story of the Lies About Addiction and the Truth About Recovery

Author: David Poses

Narrator: Charlie Thurston

Unabridged: 8 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/28/2021


Synopsis

While his wife and two-year-old daughter watched TV in the living room, David Poses was in the kitchen, measuring the distance from his index finger to his armpit. He needed to be sure he could pull the trigger with a shotgun barrel in his mouth. Twenty-six inches. Thirty-two years old. More than a decade in a double life fueled by depression and heroin.

In his groundbreaking memoir, The Weight of Air, David chronicles his struggle to overcome mental illness and addiction. By age nineteen, he'd been through medical detox, inpatient rehab, twelve-step programs, and a halfway house. He saw his drug use as a symptom of depression, but the experts insisted that addiction was the problem. Over the next thirteen years, he went from one relapse to the next, drowning in guilt, shame, and secrets, until he finally found an evidence-based treatment that not only saved his life, but helped him thrive.

With grit, humor, and brutal honesty, David's story exposes the danger in traditional recovery models: they actually increase stigma and the risk of overdose, relapse, and death. As depression and addiction rates skyrocket and overdose fatalities surge, The Weight of Air is a scathing indictment of our failed response to the opioid crisis—and proof that success is possible.

About David Poses

David Poses is a writer, speaker, and activist. After hiding his struggle with depression and opioids for twenty years, he started opening up and challenging conventional addiction wisdom. He has been published by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and New York Daily News and has appeared on national TV programs, including The Doctors TV Show, and numerous radio shows and podcasts. With candor, humor, and a unique perspective informed by science and experience, he advocates for evidence-based approaches to drug policy, prevention, and treatment. David lives in Hudson Valley, New York, with his wife, Andrea, and two children, Ruby and Sam.


Reviews

Goodreads review by David on June 30, 2021

This is an incredibly moving book, and a timely one. (Say "opioid crisis" three times fast.) David Poses isn't playing out the familiar story of an addict finding their higher power and "getting clean." He's exploding that entire paradigm. His basic formulation is that depression is pain, and that h......more

Goodreads review by David on July 29, 2021

This is a very brave book from an extraordinary man, who probably could have died a hundred times over. Thankfully, not only did he not die, he has lived to tell a powerful and compelling story about depression, addiction, family struggles, and how he managed to not only survive but thrive. I cannot......more

Goodreads review by Haliation on October 01, 2021

I have a hard time rating this. This was not at all what I was expecting - this book is more of a memoir than a critical look at how faulty drug policy and abstinence-based recovery models fails most people who use drugs. That's probably my fault. To be honest, I found it hard to relate to. And I fo......more

Goodreads review by Chris on July 07, 2021

The opioid epidemic has been going on for over 20 years, and it nearly killed me until I was able to get clean back in 2012. Since then, it’s killed countless others, but there’s still not nearly enough awareness and a massive stigma around addiction. Fortunately, people like David Poses took the ti......more

Goodreads review by Chesa on July 07, 2021

This is definitely one of the most honest and real accounts of what it is like to live life after going through an in patient rehabilitation center and what life is like after. I should know, because I lived through it! I believe this book is so important because it will help people who don’t strugg......more