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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA renowned authority on the secret world of opium recounts his descent into ruinous obsession with one of the worldrsquos oldest and most seductive drugs, in this harrowing memoir of addiction and recovery. A natural-born collector with a nose for exotic adventure, San Diegondashborn Steven Martin followed his bliss to Southeast Asia, where he found work as a freelance journalist. While researching an article about the vanishing culture of opium smoking, he was inspired to begin collecting rare nineteenth-century opium-smoking equipment. Over time, he amassed a valuable assortment of exquisite pipes, antique lamps, and other opium-related accessoriesmdashand began putting it all to use by smoking an extremely potent form of the drug called chandu.