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Original Title:	In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
ISBN:	0676977405 (ISBN13: 9780676977400)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize (2009)

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction Hardcover | Pages: 480 pages

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He would probably dispute it, but Gabor Maté is something of a compassion machine. Diligently treating the drug addicts of Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside with sympathy in his heart and legislative reform in mind can't be easy. But Maté never judges. His book is a powerful call-to-arms, both for the decriminalization of drugs and for a more sympathetic and informed view of addiction. As Maté observes, "Those whom we dismiss as 'junkies' are not creatures from a different world, only men and women mired at the extreme end of a continuum on which, here or there, all of us might well locate ourselves." In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts begins by introducing us to many of Dr. Maté's most dire patients who steal, cheat, sell sex, and otherwise harm themselves for their next hit. Maté looks to the root causes of addiction, applying a clinical and psychological view to the physical manifestation and offering some enlightening answers for why people inflict such catastrophe on themselves.

Finally, he takes aim at the hugely ineffectual, largely U.S.-led War on Drugs (and its worldwide followers), challenging the wisdom of fighting drugs instead of aiding the addicts, and showing how controversial measures such as safe injection sites are measurably more successful at reducing drug-related crime and the spread of disease than anything most major governments have going. It's not easy reading, but we ignore his arguments at our peril. When it comes to combating the drug trade and the ravages of addiction, society can use all the help it can get. --Kim Hughes

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Title	:	In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
Author	:	Gabor Maté
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 480 pages
Published	:	February 12th 2008 by Knopf Canada (first published February 12th 2007)
Categories	:	Nonfiction. Psychology. Health. Science. Mental Health

Rating Out Of Books In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Ratings: 4.48 From 6998 Users | 711 Reviews

Judgment Out Of Books In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

Far and away the most insightful, intelligent, and illuminating thing I've read on the subject of addiction-- especially drug addiction, but also behavioural addiction. I drew out the process of reading it for days in the hopes that I'd absorb it better-- particularly details about the neurophysiology of addiction and the chain of influence that leads an individual to become addictive. The book's only weakness is Maté's tendency to discuss his own compulsive and addictive behaviour (work

This book about addictions of all types has much to recommend it. Maté has a wealth of experience with severe drug addiction, and he has obviously done his homework. But he has a tendency to go on and on (an addiction of its own!) and the book becomes tedious. He belabors many of his arguments and piles documentation upon documentation until one is bewildered by the sheer volume of the verbiage. What the author could most benefit from is a strict editor who could make this book about 2/3 its

Written in clear, lucid prose any reasonably intelligent adult could understand, without a lot of confusing jargon, Dr. Mate explains the forces behind addiction and why so many addicts fail time and time again to get clean, in spite of all the incentives for doing so. This book gave me a lot to think about regarding the brain, and I also found his cautionary points about adoption studies and twin studies very interesting and relevant. Mate conclusively demonstrates that addicts are not "bad,"

An engaging and eye-opening education about addictions psychosocial, neurological, biochemical roots and its destructive consequences and the folly of our countrys military/criminal approach to what's really a social, emotional, cultural problem.Whats impelled me to stay engaged with this fat paperback, reading for 3+ hours at a time? Not the bare desire to learn the facts, nor the shock value of these facts but rather the authors voice, his personality, the world of memories and regrets and

I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows anyone with substance abuse or OCD issues. Somehow Maté makes this work of nonfiction feel so much lighter than other nonfiction works about addiction and neuroscience. His humanization of the real-life characters and acceptance of his own reactions and behaviors as a person is admirable. As a fan of pop-neuroscience books, I have to say that this is perhaps the most valuable one I know of.Through the true stories of individuals in his care, Maté

This book totally transformed my understanding of addiction and especially injection drug users and crack smokers. Everyone should read this book. The London school of economics just declared the total failure of the war on drugs. This book explains why years earlier, and what to do instead.

This book totally transformed my understanding of addiction and especially injection drug users and crack smokers. Everyone should read this book. The London school of economics just declared the total failure of the war on drugs. This book explains why years earlier, and what to do instead.