Ludes: A Ballad of the Drug & the Dream [Paperback]

Benjamin Stein (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553233556
• ISBN-13: 978-0553233551
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,054,092 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ben Stein (Los Angeles, CA) is a respected economist who is known to many as a movie and television personality, but has worked more in personal and corporate finance than anywhere else. He has written about finance for Barron's, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Fortune; was one of the chief busters of the junk-bond frauds of the 1980s; has been a longtime critic of corporate executives' self-dealing; and has cowritten eight finance books. Stein travels the country speaking about finance in both serious and humorous ways, and is a regular contributor to CBS's Sunday Morning, CNN, and Fox News. He was the 2009 winner of the Malcolm Forbes Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ludes, a treasure from Ben Stein, January 18, 2011

By 

Barbara Graham "Xenu's Ranger" (SoCal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ludes (Hardcover)

Nobody would ever want Mr. Stein as a high school instructor after seeing his portrayal of horribly boring teachers. However, his book, Ludes, is well written and gripping.

The book outlines the descent of a colleague through Hollywood social strata, a movie town success story derailed by a growing addiction to Quaaludes. This guy falls hard, battles his love for Ludes, and ultimately fails.

There are many reasons to like this book. Ben Stein's writing has a clarity of vision so vivid, like Stephen King he can put a scene in your head. Mr. Stein's understanding of addiction is beautiful. It is so well written, and applies to any substance because he focuses on what motivates people to embark on a self destructive spiral.

Quaaludes have been banned for decades, but addiction rages on with meth, opiates, alcohol and designer drugs. The observations Mr. Stein shares about his friend can apply to anybody.

This isn't just a book about addiction. It is a tragic story, beautifully written. You can feel the sun, smell the smog of LA, and down on the street, understand some of the terror and desperation that racks the addicts there.

This book is also a primer of drug addiction. Mr. Stein has an excellent understanding of it; not from handbooks but from personal experience watching his friend decline over years.

I highly recommend Ludes to anyone seeking to understand a loved one with a drug problem.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lotsa fun, February 5, 2009

By 

Ben Collet "Ben" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ludes: A Ballad of the Drug & the Dream (Paperback)

Great read about Tinseltown, money and quaaludes.
Contains one of my all-time favorite lines: "This is the last time I fly out to the coast for a lousy eight hundred grand!"