The Book of Drugs

2012 memoir by Mike Doughty

The Book of Drugs

Author| Mike Doughty
Language| English
Subject| Addiction, Music, Soul Coughing, Autobiography
Publisher| Da Capo Press

Publication date

| January 10, 2012
Publication place| United States
Media type| Trade Paperback, Kindle
Pages| 256 pages
ISBN| 978-0306818776
Preceded by| Slanky

The Book of Drugs is a 2012 memoir by the musician and songwriter Mike Doughty. The book details Doughty's struggles with drug addiction, his musical career, both before and during his time with the band Soul Coughing and during his solo career.

The book was noted for its acerbic take on Doughty's Soul Coughing bandmates,[1] as well as its unflinching look at the damage caused by addiction.[2]

The book covers Doughty's experiences growing up in a military family, his education, first experiences with drugs such as alcohol, his friendship with Jeff Buckley, and his antagonism with his (unnamed) fellow Soul Coughing band members. It also covers his experience with 12-step programs, his travels to Ethiopia and Cambodia, his experience with bipolar disorder, and his post-Soul Coughing solo career.

The book received a generally positive reception for its unflinching narrative and engaging writing. The Village Voice review called it a "quickly paced, finely observed, and often mordantly funny read"—though some reviewers wondered, as Jay Trachtenberg of the Austin Chronicle did, why "...if the atmosphere was so rancid, Doughty stuck around."[3][4]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Publishers Weekly: "The Book of Drugs: A Memoir"
2. ^ Pop Matters, "Warts and All: Mike Doughty's 'The Book of Drugs'"
3. ^ Mike Doughty's Book of Drugs Has Music in It
4. ^ Memoir Suite

* v
* t
* e

Mike Doughty

Studio albums|

* Skittish
* Haughty Melodic
* Golden Delicious
* Sad Man Happy Man
* Yes and Also Yes
* The Lo-Fi Lodge
* The Flip Is Another Honey
* Water and Washington
* Stellar Motel
* The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns

EPs|

* Rockity Roll
* The Gambler EP
* Half Smofe

Live albums|

* Smofe + Smang: Live in Mpls.
* The Question Jar Show

Written works|

The Book of Drugs

Related topics|

* Soul Coughing
* New York Press

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