ADHD Books
Here’s a list of books on ADHD. Most of them are related to Adults with ADHD.
The books are organized into the following topics:
ADHD At Work
ADHD Getting Organized
Books by Thom Hartmann
Books by Kathleen G. Nadeau
Books by Lynn Weiss
Books by Other Authors
ADHD At Work
The ADHD Guide to Career Success: Harness your Strengths, Manage your Challenges
By Kathleen G Nadeau
While adults with ADHD are likely to face professional challenges, it is possible to cultivate a work environment that enables them to thrive and uses the strengths of this unique condition to their advantage.
Featuring a large open format with summaries at the beginning of each chapter and designed with the ADHD reader in mind, this newly revised and updated edition offers an easy-to-follow progression of useful information interwoven with practical strategies for career success.
ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to Fulfillment in the Business World.
This new book, ADHD SECRETS OF SUCCESS will help ADHDers understand and overcome the symptoms of their condition that may hold them back, and take advantage of the traits marking them for success. Thom Hartmann shows ADHDers how to:
*Choose an appropriate profession and a rewarding work situation
*Use practical techniques for overcoming forgetfulness, reaching goals, and countering procrastination
*Harness ADHD symptoms to inspire new ways of problem-solving
ADD in the Workplace: Choices, Changes, and Challenges
A comprehensive book, explaining the positives and negatives of ADD in the workplace. The book is written for people who are already working and does not include job hunting information.
Personal coping skills and accommodations for employers are described. The book covers possibilities for self-employment, telecommuting, and other ways of “customizing” your own job.
Two combinations are covered in separate chapters: women with ADD and people with ADD who also have learning disabilities.”
ADD on the Job
Being ADD herself, the author shows ADD people how to identify their type of ADD and what difficulties each type has in the workplace and then suggests ways to solve their problems.
This is a valuable book for anyone with ADD or related to an ADD person. In light of the fact that ADD does not necessarily go away in adolescence and that many adults are challenged by ADD, this book is a positive and instructive review of important issues.
Adventures in Fast Forward: Life, Love, and Work for the ADD Adult
Consumer health guide on Attention Deficit Disorder for laypersons diagnosed with ADD.
Discusses common concerns and questions, including causes, diagnosis, treatments, strategies, and accommodations.
ADHD Getting Organized
ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life: Second Edition: Strategies That Work from an Acclaimed Professional Organizer and a Renowned ADD Clinician
Three main areas of organizing are included: organizing things; organizing papers; and organizing time.
Following the stories are sets of solutions, both conventional and innovative, that offer the AD/HD adult options on how to implement the text into his or her own life.
Critical to the AD/HD adult is support, and Recommended Levels of Support are included that enable the reader to implement the solution and continue to make it work over time.
Each chapter closes with a Chapter Review and this feature shows the level of understanding of the audience by these authors.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Updated 2015
Not ADHD specific, but many ADDErs use his GTD system in part or in full. If you do nothing else, use his someday maybe list. Vs have multiple lists of overwhelm.
David Allen, a management consultant and executive coach, provides insights into attaining maximum efficiency and at the same time relaxing whenever one needs or wants to.
Readers learn that there is no single means for perfecting organizational efficiency or productivity; rather, the author offers tools to focus on strategically and tactically without letting anything fall through the cracks.
He provides tips, techniques, and tricks for implementation of his workflow management plan, which has two basic components: capture all the things that need to get done into a workable, dependable system; and discipline oneself to make front-end decisions with an action plan for all inputs into that system.
In short, do it (quickly), delegate it (appropriately), or defer it.
The Power of Focus: How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty
Canfield, Hansen, and Hewitt have taken the best ideas from their own successful careers (seventy-nine years of combined business expertise), and distilled them into ten powerful focusing principles.
The result is a treasury of insights that is enjoyable to read and easy to understand. At the outset, the book identifies the three most important fundamentals for consistent success: developing unusual clarity; understanding that habits determine your future, and using a “no exceptions policy” approach to focus on what you want.
Numerous anecdotes and inspiring stories help to reinforce each principle.
View from the Cliff: A Course in Achieving Daily Focus by Lynn Weiss
As Weiss points out, ADD people – or so we’re labelled by society – are big-picture, bottom-line people. She wastes no time getting to the point. Each chapter is bulleted as: Here’s the problem; here’s why; here’s what TO do; what NOT to do; challenges you might face while attempting this. Perfect.
She also notes in the introduction that each reader is designed differently, and in putting the book together she realizes that no one is going to identify with ALL of the troubles she seeks to address.
She recommends that each person use the book as s/he needs and not get hung up on anything there that might seem another label or that might not fit the individual.
Actually, the introduction is one of the best parts of the book – it deals the most inclusively with the psychology of ADD; the rest deals with tools to handle it day-to-day.
Books by Thom Hartmann
ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer’s World 2019
A newly revised and updated edition of the classic guide to reframing our view of ADHD and embracing its benefits
• Explains that people with ADHD are not disordered or dysfunctional, but simply “hunters in a farmer’s world”–possessing a unique mental skill set that would have allowed them to thrive in a hunter-gatherer society
• Offers concrete non-drug methods and practices to help hunters–and their parents, teachers, and managers–embrace their differences, nurture creativity, and find success in school, at work, and at home
• Reveals how some of the world’s most successful people can be labelled as ADHD hunters, including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie
With 10 percent of the Western world’s children suspected of having Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADHD, and a growing number of adults self-diagnosing after decades of struggle, the question must be raised: How could Nature make such a “mistake”?
In this updated edition of his groundbreaking classic, Thom Hartmann explains that people with ADHD are not abnormal, disordered, or dysfunctional, but simply “hunters in a farmer’s world.”
Often highly creative and single-minded in pursuit of a self-chosen goal, those with ADHD symptoms possess a unique mental skill set that would have allowed them to thrive in a hunter-gatherer society.
As hunters, they would have been constantly scanning their environment, looking for food or threats (distractibility); they’d have to act without hesitation (impulsivity); and they’d have to love the high-stimulation and risk-filled environment of the hunting field.
With our structured public schools, office workplaces, and factories those who inherit a surplus of “hunter skills” are often left frustrated in a world that doesn’t understand or support them.
As Hartmann shows, by reframing our view of ADHD, we can begin to see it not as a disorder, but as simply a difference and, in some ways, an advantage.
He reveals how some of the world’s most successful people can be labeled as ADHD hunters and offers concrete non-drug methods and practices to help hunters–and their parents, teachers, and managers–embrace their differences, nurture creativity, and find success in school, at work, and at home.
Providing a supportive “survival” guide to help fine tune your natural skill set, rather than suppress it, Hartmann shows that each mind–whether hunter, farmer, or somewhere in between–has value and great potential waiting to be tapped.
ADD Success Stories: A Guide to Fulfillment for Families with ADD
The first specific guidebook for how to be successful in the world as a teenager or adult with ADD – from the author of Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception.
Inspiring real-life stories show how people with ADD can succeed in school, at work, and in relationships.
This book tells children and adults from all walks of life how to reach the next step – a fulfilling, successful life with ADD.
ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to Fulfillment in the Business World
This new book, ADHD SECRETS OF SUCCESS will help ADHDers understand and overcome the symptoms of their condition that may hold them back, and take advantage of the traits marking them for success. Thom Hartmann shows ADHDers how to:
*Choose an appropriate profession and a rewarding work situation
*Use practical techniques for overcoming forgetfulness, reaching goals, and countering procrastination
*Harness ADHD symptoms to inspire new ways of problem solving
Beyond ADD: Hunting for Reasons in the Past and Present
Learn how ADD-related traits have served to further human evolution. Author Thom Hartmann spotlights how modern life contributes to ADD, including a toxic environment, nutritional deficiencies, our quick-fix consumer culture, and the effects of television and overpopulation.
Hartmann also documents the difficulties gifted children encounter in our educational system, and the hardships visual learners encounter in an auditory environment.
The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of ADD
According to Hartmann, ADHD is a trait (referred to here as the Edison gene, because the inventor Thomas Edison is believed to have had the trait) rather than a disorder, because it once provided useful skills for functioning in a hunter-gatherer society.
The hunter abilities contrasted sharply with the farmer trait, which carried the skills required in farming societies.
For example, hunter children have a short attention span, beneficial in a dangerous world where the environment had to be constantly monitored.
The innovative but impatient hunter child is usually placed in special ed classes and is looked on as a disciplinary problem, but Hartman believes that ADHD children should be thought of separately.
He provides specific guidelines for parents, partly based on the work of Alfred Adler, which encourages mutual respect between parent and child.
Hartmann believes that creative outside-the-box thinking, characteristic of those with ADHD, is a real asset to solving many of the world’s serious problems.
Healing ADD: Simple Exercises That Will Change Your Life
This book offers practical exercises that will change the way educators look at ADD as well as how they work with their students.
The suggestions and exercises in the book were helpful, not only to my ADD students but to all my students. It offers a healing peaceful way to relate to and assist students in the classroom.
Wish I had read it years ago. The class met each new exercise with a real sense of adventure and discovery, taking the exercises home to share with their parents.
Soon parents were involved and asking questions. It was wonderful!
Think Fast: The ADD Experience
This is the book inducted into the Smithsonian. It’s a collection of short essays on ADD/ADHD by Thom Hartmann, Russell Barkley, Edward Hallowell, John Ratey, Peter Wright, George Lynn, Dave deBronkart, Janie Bowman and others, edited by Thom, Janie, and Susan.
It’s an excellent overview of the whole spectrum of thought of ADD/ADHD.
Thom Hartmann’s Complete Guide to ADHD: Help for Your Family at Home, School, and Work
In this volume, the acknowledged pioneer in attention deficit disorder research combines the best of his previous books with important new information.
In the new chapters (about 25 percent of the book), Hartmann looks at how and why America’s school system fails to assist children diagnosed with ADHD and urges parents to find alternative means of educating their children when this happens.
Books by Kathleen G. Nadeau
ADD in the Workplace: Choices, Changes, and Challenges
A comprehensive book, explaining the positives and negatives of ADD in the workplace. The book is written for people who are already working and does not include job hunting information.
Personal coping skills and accommodations for employers are described. The book covers possibilities for self-employment, telecommuting, and other ways of “customizing” your own job.
Two combinations are covered in separate chapters: women with ADD and people with ADD who also have learning disabilities.”
Adventures in Fast Forward: Life, Love, and Work for the ADD Adult
Consumer health guide on Attention Deficit Disorder for laypersons diagnosed with ADD.
Discusses common concerns and questions, including causes, diagnosis, treatments, strategies, and accommodations.
Understanding Women with AD/HD
“Understanding Women with AD/HD” is a compilation of articles by various medical professionals.
Kathleen Nadeau and Patricia Quinn have taken these articles (many of which they contributed to) and put them into a logical order and format so that it is easy for the non-professional to gain a comprehensive understanding of AD/HD as it relates to women.
Of all the books on AD/HD I have read this one provides most comprehensive coverage while still being highly approachable.
Subjects covered include why the DSM-IV diagnosis may be inadequate, a self-assessment, hormonal influences, depression, deprogramming, women’s life stages, and other issues relating to women with AD/HD.
Easy to follow, the editors make a complex subject understandable.
“Understanding Women with AD/HD” is a highly recommended, authoritative read for anyone desiring an understanding of AD/HD and of particular interest for those whose interest is in the unique problems of women.
Survival Guide for College Students with ADD or LD.
Chesapeake Psychological Services, Maryland. Brief text for high school or college students with attention deficit disorder or learning disabilities.
Topics include choosing a college, campus and community resources, and self-help tips.
Books by Lynn Weiss
A.D.D. and Success
An acclaimed A.D.D. expert tells the stories of 16 individuals who have learned to incorporate A.D.D. attributes positively into their lives.
The Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults Workbook
The first book to address adult ADD, Dr. Lynn Weiss’s bestselling Attention Deficit Disorder In Adults has sold over 125,000 copies since its publication in 1991.
This updated volume still contains all the original information–how to tell if you have ADD, ways to master distraction, ADD’s impact on the family, and more–plus the newest treatments available.
ADD on the Job
Being ADD herself, the author shows ADD people how to identify their type of ADD and what difficulties each type has in the workplace and then suggests ways to solve their problems.
This is a valuable book for anyone with ADD or related to an ADD person. In light of the fact that ADD does not necessarily go away in adolescence and that many adults are challenged by ADD, this book is a positive and instructive review of important issues.
ADD and Creativity: Tapping Your Inner Muse
Written by the author of Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults, this book is the only one available that addresses the relationship between A.D.D. and creativity.
With real-life stories and inspirational affirmations woven throughout, A.D.D. and Creativity will motivate those with the disorder to find the courage to apply their creative assets and become happier, more confident people.
View from the Cliff: A Course in Achieving Daily Focus
Many adult ADD self-help books claim the “you’re not damaged, you’re just different” philosophy — and then proceed to prescribe ways to “fix your problem” with conventional time management and organizing methods.
Fortunately, Weiss’s approach is more creative, constructive, and strengthening.
The author’s tone reflects an acceptance of what’s generally pathologized and “handled” as a limiting or disabling condition.
Noting both strengths and challenges, Weiss succinctly covers many different areas affected by adult ADD, also acknowledging some of the underlying personality issues and emotional aspects.
These plusses more than outweigh the inevitable and relatively innocuous happy-talk/pop-psych quotient. I was diagnosed last year, and have taken a great deal of useful support from the book.
Books by Other Authors
ADHD According to Zoe
By Zoey Kessler.
Like many women with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), journalist and popular blogger Zoë Kessler was diagnosed late in life—well into adulthood, in fact.
But instead of seeing this label as a burden to bear, Kessler decided to use it to gain a better understanding of herself, and to connect with others through her writing.
In this unique and engaging memoir, Kessler shares her own stories of living with ADHD in a way that is relatable, but never predictable.
Inside, she describes how her impulsive behavior has affected her love life; how being disorganized once stood in the way of landing a job; and how inattentiveness has caused certain challenges in her relationships.
Kessler also offers key coping skills based on her experience; skills that you can use to focus your energy, become more organized and boost your self-esteem while tapping into creativity and humor.
Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most Out of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder
by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell and Dr. John J. Ratey
This follow-up to the authors’ 1994 manual, Driven to Distraction, has the advantage of personal testimony regarding adult Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)—the authors themselves have ADD—as well a very readable presentation of the latest research in the field.
Defining ADD as a collection of traits, some positive, some negative, the authors intend to encourage those who have this condition or are raising children with it and advise on how to maximize their abilities and minimize characteristics, such as procrastination, that may hinder them at school or work.
In a comprehensive overview, Hallowell and Ratey provide a new screening questionnaire for adults and list methods that physicians, parents and educators can use to diagnose and treat the ADD child. Of primary importance to readers are the recommended steps for living a satisfying life with ADD.
These include developing personal relationships and engaging in creative activities that will foster self-esteem.
The authors also separate nutrition fads from what is known about how diet can affect brain functioning and discuss whether to take medication. Overall, this is an excellent resource.
Driven to Distraction
Hallowell and Ratey offer a fine addition to the literature on ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). The authors employ a broad, general definition of ADD (“high-energy, action-oriented, bottom-line, gotta-run-type people”) and continually emphasize the special, positive qualities of people with ADD.
They describe how ADD affects adults–many Americans mistakenly think of it as a childhood curse–and explain how the American temperament helps create ADD-like symptoms.
Best of all are the stories and case studies of myriad folks who have dealt successfully with their diagnosis. A state-by-state list of support groups is included in this excellent approach to an intriguing subject.
Answers to Distraction
After a careful and informative introduction to attention deficit disorder (A.D.D.), Ratey proceeds to answer questions posed by those who have A.D.D. or know someone with the condition.
While the questions and answers are rehearsed, the presentation is appropriately slow, clear and thoughtful. Additionally, the questions and answers are divided into sections that address the concerns of parents, children, adolescents and women.
Each section begins with an age appropriate definition of A.D.D. so that those looking for answers can start with the appropriate section, rather than having to search through the whole tape for relevant topics.
Though this is a sequel to DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION by the same authors, ANSWERS TO DISTRACTION easily stands on its own.
The Added Dimension: Everyday Advice for Adults with ADD
In The ADDed Dimension, Kate Kelly, Peggy Ramundo, and D. Steven Ledingham offer insight — with wise, clear eyes and well-developed senses of humor — into every facet of the ADD experience, from issues of work, parenting, and relationships to those of organizational skills and stress.
ADDers know enough about the “disadvantages” of ADD, and this is much more than just a guide to solving problems. At its heart, its aim is self-realization, the feeling of standing, feet firmly planted, on the common ground all ADDers walk.
Along the way, it celebrates the good news about ADD: the fact that “different” doesn’t mean “worse,” and more often might mean “better,” especially when energy, creativity, and humor are concerned.
Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD
Hard, visual data make a compelling case for the existence of attention deficit disorder (ADD) in this pioneering work by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
Using a nuclear medicine technique called “single photon emission computed tomography” (SPECT)–a controversial step, according to some of his peers–Dr. Amen scans patients’ brains to identify various abnormalities.
From more than 8,000 such studies and more than 12,000 patient evaluations, Dr. Amen concludes that six–not the formerly presumed two–different types of ADD exist.
This book encompasses the full spectrum of Dr. Amen’s work: from symptom identification to clinical evaluation, to diet and medication recommendations, to everyday strategies for living with ADD (whether the reader is a parent of an ADD child, or has been diagnosed with the disease.)
The Journey Through ADDulthood: A Guide A Guide to Living a Fulfilling Life with Attention Deficit Disorder
Solden reveals that years after diagnosis many adults still feel discouraged because their treatment focused exclusively on managing or overcoming the symptoms of ADD rather than on teaching them how to lead a fulfilling life.
Her professional skill in helping others cope with ADD shines through in this well-organized, frankly stated work.
The material is organized into three stages: understanding the brain and primary symptoms of ADD, discovering one’s true identity and accepting one’s uniqueness, and learning to share one’s self with others.
Examples of real-life journeys of two patients with ADD, and numerous self-help exercises at the end of each chapter, add value to this superior work, which is targeted to lay readers but will also be of use to mental health professionals.
Making ADHD a Gift: Teaching Superman How to Fly
by Robert Evert Cimera.
“Making ADHD a Gift explains, in everyday language, what ADHD is, how it is diagnosed, and how this condition can affect people throughout their life span.
It also outlines methods of developing and assessing teaching strategies that can help individuals with ADHD both at home and at school.
Unlike other texts, this book takes a positive look at having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Rather than trying to repress the characteristics of ADHD, Making ADHD a Gift advocates that individuals with ADHD use their disorder to maximize attention span, improve social skills, harness impulsivity, and turn hyperactivity into periods of extreme productivity.
In addition to providing teaching strategies and accommodations for ADHD students, the book also examines issues unique to children, adolescents, and adults who have been diagnosed with this disorder.
Living with ADD: A Workbook for Adults with ADD
This highly readable book can benefit anyone who has ever struggled with his or her own behavior patterns –and who hasn’t? Many of the problems encountered by people with ADD are non-specific and afflict a large percentage of “non-ADD” people as well, even if to a lesser degree.
For this reason, “Living with ADD” deserves a closer look from a wider audience. Such headings as “Conquering the Internal Critic” –“Handling Criticism from Others” –“Ten Fallacies of Thinking” including catastrophizing, personalizing, and polarized thinking address most of us whether or not we fit into the diagnostic boundaries of ADD.
The eminently practical advice given by the authors is offered in short paragraphs that even most ADD readers will find manageable; more importantly yet, the advice is do-able!
Nature’s Ritalin for the Marathon Mind: Nurturing Your ADHD Child with Exercise
Millions of children who are diagnosed with ADHD can reduce or eliminate their medication while vastly improving their quality of life-just by exercising more, according to Stephen C. Putnam, author of this landmark book on the subject.
Putnam emphasizes that “This is not an anti-Ritalin book.
In addition to explaining the scientific issues, the book provides details on how to determine the optimum amount of exercise and the optimal schedules, plus numerous suggestions of ways to motivate your children to take up appropriate activities.
“Motivation is the tricky part for most kids,” Putnam says. “They’re not going to exercise just because a parent is nagging them. But once they start feeling the benefits, they’ll want to keep it up.
Out of the Fog: Treatment Options and Strategies for Adult with ADD
Out of the Fog, written by the chief of the Adult ADHD Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, is written for a popular audience and could serve to “self-diagnose” readers by using “Self-Exploration Exercises.”
Murphy also gives lists for simplifying and improving life for the adult with ADD, using concrete examples of time management and organizational skills.
Written from a personal perspective (Murphy also has ADHD), it provides much insight into the world of the hyperactive adult.
Survival Tips for Women with AD/HD
Terry Matlen has gone directly to the source to bring an outstanding compilation of practical solutions to everyday problems for women with AD/HD.
Her contributors include a global network of clever, creative women with AD/HD, as well as premier AD/HD experts, coaches, and professional organizers. Readers will get a wide variety of ideas to help you:
• Organize your home and office
• Parent with patience and perseverance
• Take the anxiety out of meal planning
• Manage the endless stacks of papers
• Remember the priorities that deserve your attention
You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?
Straightforward, practical advice for taking control of the symptoms, minimizing the disabilities, and maximizing the advantages of adult ADD.
There is a great deal of literature about children with attention deficit disorder, ADD. But what do you do if you have ADD and aren’t a child anymore?
You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! focuses on the experiences of adults, offering accurate information, practical how-tos and moral support to help readers deal with ADD.
It explains the diagnostic process that distinguishes ADD symptoms from normal lapses in memory, lack of concentration or impulsive behavior, and it addresses:
* Achieving balance by analyzing one’s strengths and weaknesses
* Getting along in groups, at work and in intimate and family relationships — including how to decrease discord and chaos
* Learning the mechanics and methods for getting organized and improving memory
* Seeking professional help, including therapy and medication
What Does Everybody Else Know That I Don’t?: Social Skills Help for Adults with ADD
There are so many clinical books about AD/HD, but this book is different. It goes behind the diagnosis, treatment and struggles to talk about an often missed area of problem…the social skills area.
Without addressing this, the person continues to function without knowing how he comes across in the world. Even the brightest person can alienate others in social settings and work settings too.
I also love the very emotional book of The Other Me, Poetic thoughts on ADD for adults, kids and parents, by Fellman. It touched my heart so…I cried for all those painful times. Thanks to these two authors for addressing the feelings of ADD!
Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embracing Disorganization at Home and in the Workplace
Offers proof that ADD affects as many women as men and shows women how to detect its symptoms, what special challenges they will face, what to expect from the treatment, and how to live with the condition.