Non-fiction The Urge: Our history of addiction

Carl Erik Fisher: Scribe, $35

Psychiatrist Fisher treats people with all kinds of addictions, from cigarettes to drugs and gambling, and he set out to find out why people can’t stop. He’s well placed to ask the right questions, describing his own descent into alcoholism with a side habit of amphetamines. While Fisher’s study is confined to the US, the situations are all too familiar here. Use of drugs is widespread throughout our community, but addiction has been driven by many factors: misery, oppression, illness, desire and the aggressive promotion of old drinks and new pharmaceuticals. This history urges us to leave behind moral panic and find more than one solution to a very human problem.

ROBYN DOUGLASS