Rating: 
Summary: Powerful!
Review: "Addiction and Grace" is one of the most powerful books I have read and is one of the cornerstones and mainstays of my sobriety.
Rating:
Summary: must-read, non-cliched religious view of addiction
Review: A classic in its field, May's book draws on everything from neurological data to
the Gospels to examine the pervasiveness of addiction in human experience.
May is on staff at the Shalem Center in Washington DC and has written widely
on the interface between psychology and spirituality. This is far from a popular-lever
paean to the recovery movements; it will leave you wondering
about the amount of freedom in your life.
Rating:
Summary: must-read, non-cliched religious view of addiction
Review: A classic in its field, May's book draws on everything from neurological data tothe Gospels to examine the pervasiveness of addiction in human experience.May is on staff at the Shalem Center in Washington DC and has written widely on the interface between psychology and spirituality. This is far from a popular-lever paean to the recovery movements; it will leave you wondering about the amount of freedom in your life.
Rating:
Summary: Explore it all...
Review: A relative of mine is addicted to crack. His wife is addicted to him. My father was addicted to cigarettes. My father-in-law is addicted to food. And many, many other people in my life are addicted to a wide variety of things. I was watching all this addiction go on around me, not understanding.I don't even remember how I found this book. I've now given away about five copies to people who also were struggling to understand the addicted people in their lives. Gerald May takes you through the process from the beginning to the end. The why's and the wherefores. Every word that is written in the beginning of the book is absolutely necessary to understand the conclusions reached at the end. Now, I understand. This book has brought great relief to me personally in that I am not so perplexed and lost in trying to understand why addicted people do the things they do. If you've ever asked yourself questions like 'Why don't they just stop?' and 'Why doesn't she/he just leave them?' then you need to read this book. It's short and sweet and incredibly well written.
Rating:
Summary: Wondering Why People Are Addicted?
Review: A relative of mine is addicted to crack. His wife is addicted to him. My father was addicted to cigarettes. My father-in-law is addicted to food. And many, many other people in my life are addicted to a wide variety of things. I was watching all this addiction go on around me, not understanding. I don't even remember how I found this book. I've now given away about five copies to people who also were struggling to understand the addicted people in their lives. Gerald May takes you through the process from the beginning to the end. The why's and the wherefores. Every word that is written in the beginning of the book is absolutely necessary to understand the conclusions reached at the end. Now, I understand. This book has brought great relief to me personally in that I am not so perplexed and lost in trying to understand why addicted people do the things they do. If you've ever asked yourself questions like 'Why don't they just stop?' and 'Why doesn't she/he just leave them?' then you need to read this book. It's short and sweet and incredibly well written.
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly spiritual insights into nature of addictions
Review: Far and away the most fascinating and provocative
book on the psychology of addiction. Takes us deep
inside the brain to show how and why addictions
work at the cellular level... then, in a macro-view,
what the central spiritual root of addictions is...
and why they are so difficult to change. Adds
a fresh new dimension of insight to the hidden challenges of the recovery process.
Rating:
Summary: God helps us win victory over any addiction
Review: I bought this book because it was recommended in The Sacred Romance. I have to say that Addiction & Grace is a fantastic book. Addictions (attachments) prevent us from experience the full glory of God in our lives. This book helped me realize how in trying to get victory over my weight and food, I was merely replacing one addiction (food) with another (discipline--food diaries, measuring food, controlling exposure to food). God can only help me when I get to a place where I am still, no longer able or willing to help myself conquer the addiction. I need to be comfortable in the anxiety that arises when God removes the addiction because it is in that void that I will meet God. I need to feel safe in risky situations (parties, potlucks) because that is when I will experience God's grace most. This book is highly readable (but read it with an underliner). Every chapter is thought provoking, but the last few chapters on spirituality are the most valuable. Please do yourself a favor and buy this book. It will get you on the path to understanding the truth and gaining freedom from addictions. "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -- John 8:32"
Rating:
Summary: God helps us win victory over any addiction
Review: I bought this book because it was recommended in The Sacred Romance. I have to say that Addiction & Grace is a fantastic book. Addictions (attachments) prevent us from experience the full glory of God in our lives. This book helped me realize how in trying to get victory over my weight and food, I was merely replacing one addiction (food) with another (discipline--food diaries, measuring food, controlling exposure to food). God can only help me when I get to a place where I am still, no longer able or willing to help myself conquer the addiction. I need to be comfortable in the anxiety that arises when God removes the addiction because it is in that void that I will meet God. I need to feel safe in risky situations (parties, potlucks) because that is when I will experience God's grace most. This book is highly readable (but read it with an underliner). Every chapter is thought provoking, but the last few chapters on spirituality are the most valuable. Please do yourself a favor and buy this book. It will get you on the path to understanding the truth and gaining freedom from addictions. "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. -- John 8:32"
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Book But Needs Editing and Review
Review: I found this book to be helpful and enlightening but it unfortunately contains numerous errors. So many errors that I was greatly troubled by the time I got to page 120 or so. The problem I had was if so many obvious errors exist, then what is the value of the entire text? Ultimately, as in a matter of faith, I had to make a decision based upon the entire message and concluded that the book is worthy--warts and all. So I rate the book as five stars for message and three stars for production--a total of four stars. Dr. May quite carefully points out in the Preface that he is neither a "trained theologian nor a scriptural scholar." Much of his theology is quite good and consistent with the body of existing literature. Never-the-less the book is replete with numerous errors of interpretation and omission. And almost all of these errors could have been identified and corrected if a more careful editing job and review had been performed--this process was poorly done. And coincidentally, fixing these errors would strengthen, rather than weaken the book's message. I list some of the more serious errors below in the hopes that they will be fixed in a future edition of this book. 1) The discussion of the Garden of Eden tree of life and tree of knowledge contains errors and contradictions. Dr. May states on pg. 11 (par. 3) that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from both trees. He then reasons that God didn't want them to eat the fruit from the tree of life (pg. 111, par. 2). Both statements are wrong--see Genesis 2:16. Also see the highly rated: Victor Hamilton, "The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17," New International Commentary of the Old Testament, William B. Eerdmans, 1990, pp. 162-166. 2) In discussing the Exodus, Dr. May says that "we know that we do not want to go back to imprisonment"... (pg. 105, par 2). This is contradicted by Exodus 16:2 and his own statement on pg. 133 (par. 2)--"longing for the old days of slavery." 3) He says the text at the end of pg. 120 closes the New Testament (Rev 22:17)--it does not! In fact the actual closing text (Rev 22:21) is much closer to the message of the book than the text that he used, so I assume that this again was sloppy editing ("The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." (NIV).) 4) He nowhere discusses several key Bible versus that relate to sin, grace, and election. For example, there is no discussion of Romans 3: 10-12 (Psalms 14: 2-3 and Psalms 53: 2-3). Here, Paul effectively says that in our unregenerated state we do not search for the true God--even if as Dr. May points out we are affected by our attachments and addictions. He also doesn't mention 1 Corinthians 15:21-22--that it is the seed of Adam (sin) that affects all, but through Christ we are made alive. And that all have sinned but can be redeemed by God's grace through Jesus (Romans 3:22-24). Similarly, the whole issue of election ("to choose"), as how God chooses us by grace not works, is not well treated (see: Ephesians 1: 4 and many others).
Rating:
Summary: Very insightful.
Review: I found this book to be very insightful and informative. I had a bit of a problem with what I feel are extremely wordy paragraphs that take too long to get to the point. However, I found all of the answers I was searching for and then some.
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