Review of Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
-
Laurie Bridgens
- Posts: 19
- Joined: 17 Aug 2021, 07:40
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 23
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-laurie-bridgens.html
- Latest Review: Killing Abel by Michael Tieman
Review of Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
[Following is a volunteer review of "Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?" by Kyle Oh.]
Why Can’t Johnny Just Quit? by Kyle Oh is a non-fiction book that describes addiction from the authors perspective, an accredited pain and addiction specialist. The book provides the reader with definitions of terms like addictions, dependency, and abuse. It describes the differences between these terms and the importance of understanding the terminology correctly. Personal experiences of patients with addictions to various substances are in the book. A special emphasis is on how their particular drug of choice made them feel. This book looks at the current ways of diagnosing addiction by looking at the behaviors associated with addiction and offers an alternative way to view the subject of addiction.
The positive aspects were that references were present, lending to the scientific credibility of the book. I enjoyed the different viewpoints the author proposed in looking into addiction. It made me question what I have always thought of as addiction and addicts. The book made me realize that many people I would have previously labelled as an addict might not be. Another positive of this book was the simple definitions of terms like addiction, dependency, and abuse. I have always thought of these terms as meaning essentially the same thing. It was enlightening to discover that they each have completely different meanings and connotations. A way to explain this is to use the example that a person may be dependent on a drug but not addicted, or they may be abusing a drug without being addicted, or they may be addicted and dependent. The point of this example is to demonstrate that these terms are not synonyms.
This book did have some negative aspects to it. These included repetition, the author often repeated facts throughout the book, likely an attempt to drive his point home to the reader. This became repetitive after a while. There was another aspect I did not enjoy whilst reading the book, and that was that it was scientific at times, to the point where the average person with no medical background did have some difficulty following.
I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because it was informative, it offered a fresh perspective on the drug crisis in America, and it was interesting to read. I did not rate it higher because I did find it somewhat repetitive. The author drew many conclusions from his patient base, which was not large enough to draw any decisive conclusions. I did enjoy reading this book and loved the attention focused on prevention rather than curative measures once addiction, dependency, and abuse had already set in.
I would recommend this book to people (Americans) who have a family member struggling with a substance addiction or abuse disorder and to those struggling with the addiction themselves. I would particularly recommend this book to those who have a family history of addiction, as I believe it would benefit these people greatly when it comes to their approach to drugs, be they recreational or prescription.
******
Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Why Can’t Johnny Just Quit? by Kyle Oh is a non-fiction book that describes addiction from the authors perspective, an accredited pain and addiction specialist. The book provides the reader with definitions of terms like addictions, dependency, and abuse. It describes the differences between these terms and the importance of understanding the terminology correctly. Personal experiences of patients with addictions to various substances are in the book. A special emphasis is on how their particular drug of choice made them feel. This book looks at the current ways of diagnosing addiction by looking at the behaviors associated with addiction and offers an alternative way to view the subject of addiction.
The positive aspects were that references were present, lending to the scientific credibility of the book. I enjoyed the different viewpoints the author proposed in looking into addiction. It made me question what I have always thought of as addiction and addicts. The book made me realize that many people I would have previously labelled as an addict might not be. Another positive of this book was the simple definitions of terms like addiction, dependency, and abuse. I have always thought of these terms as meaning essentially the same thing. It was enlightening to discover that they each have completely different meanings and connotations. A way to explain this is to use the example that a person may be dependent on a drug but not addicted, or they may be abusing a drug without being addicted, or they may be addicted and dependent. The point of this example is to demonstrate that these terms are not synonyms.
This book did have some negative aspects to it. These included repetition, the author often repeated facts throughout the book, likely an attempt to drive his point home to the reader. This became repetitive after a while. There was another aspect I did not enjoy whilst reading the book, and that was that it was scientific at times, to the point where the average person with no medical background did have some difficulty following.
I would rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because it was informative, it offered a fresh perspective on the drug crisis in America, and it was interesting to read. I did not rate it higher because I did find it somewhat repetitive. The author drew many conclusions from his patient base, which was not large enough to draw any decisive conclusions. I did enjoy reading this book and loved the attention focused on prevention rather than curative measures once addiction, dependency, and abuse had already set in.
I would recommend this book to people (Americans) who have a family member struggling with a substance addiction or abuse disorder and to those struggling with the addiction themselves. I would particularly recommend this book to those who have a family history of addiction, as I believe it would benefit these people greatly when it comes to their approach to drugs, be they recreational or prescription.
******
Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Killing Abel by Michael Tieman
