The number of addicts who become addicted is a global crisis that can touch any family. Two, the first book in a series of four books about understanding addiction, accomplishes this by providing an evidence-based psychosocial explanation of how addicts are created and how this can be avoided. The addiction scourge needs an explanation on which prevention and intervention strategies can be based. Dr. Alexander Polgar, the author, is a therapist with decades of experience helping addicts to become unstuck from their addiction. Addicts may come from any family and part of the community. Addicts are children, parents, sisters, and brothers from wealthy, middle-class, or poor families. Addictions are not limited to drugs or alcohol, addicts may become dependent on many different substances and behaviors that keep us from the opportunities and freedom to reach our full potential as a person.

This first book is the foundation of the unified theory of addiction. The premise is based on studies about the early, formative years in a child’s life. Environmental conditions during the nine months of gestation and the first two years of life largely determine what happens for the rest of an individual’s life. To make the point, two opposite experiences are described in the lives of the protagonists, Sally and Robert. Both speak in their own voice, which makes for easy but emotionally and intellectually compelling listening. The book ends with a series of reflections that add social science evidence in support of the premise.