Opium Fiend opens with one of the most harrowing chapters you're likely to read this year: a graphic description of Steven Martin's attempt to kick his thirty-pipe-a-day opium habit cold turkey. I challenge you to read it and not feel compelled to continue. Martin, the world's foremost authority on opium antiques, goes on to detail how his compulsion to collect the accouterments of this once pervasive drug—pure chandu, not lesser and, in Martin's view, more barbaric opiates like heroin—led to his nearly lethal detox attempt, from which he was rescued by Jean Cocteau's advice from 1930: "Do not persist. If you delay too long, you will no longer be able to take your equipment and roll your pipe. Smoke. Your body is waiting only for a sign." It wouldn't be Martin's last relapse. Along the way we learn much about the British Opium Wars, opium in nineteenth-century America, opium eradication efforts worldwide, and Martin's single-minded passion as a collector, which allowed him to assemble one of the most exquisite collections of opium accessories in the world. In some ways it's easy to romanticize the exotic world Martin conjures for us. But looming over his tale of travel, adventure, lavish opium dens, and paraphernalia of ivory, hammered silver, jade, and precious gems, is the stark reality of addiction, social isolation, and a yearning for an idealized past that slowly morphs into a hellish present. Also recommended: Martin's first book, The Art of Opium Antiques. - Brandon