Books for Adults: NRC Staff Favorites

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The staff of the National Resource Center on ADHD has compiled a list of favorite books written for adults with ADHD.  More detailed information on each title, as well as additional books and periodicals written for adults with ADHD are available from the NRC Library's online database.

• ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life
  Also available in audio format
  Authors: Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau
  Publisher: Routledge (New York, NY, 2000), 280 pages
  Summary: Standard organizing approaches often do not work for people with ADHD. This book includes chapters designed for such adults on how to get organized, learning to prioritize, dealing with clutter, filing, managing financial records, and managing time.
• Understand Your Brain, Get More Done: The ADHD Executive Functions Workbook
  Author: Ari Tuckman
  Publisher: Specialty Press (Plantation, FL, 2012), 162 pages
  Summary: The author describes the executive functions affected by ADHD and offers practical strategies, including workbook exercises, to help adults be more consistent and effective.
• 100 Questions & Answers About Adult ADHD
  Author: Ava T. Albrech
  Publisher: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. (Burlington, MA, 2009), 180 pages
  Summary: This book answers some basic questions about adult ADHD, diagnosis, risk, treatment options, associated conditions, and living with ADHD.
• The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents
  Author: Nancy Ratey
  Publisher: St. Martin's Press (New York, NY, 2008), 304 pages
  Summary: Professional ADHD coach Nancy Ratey provides guidance for adults with ADHD struggling with inattention, time-mismanagement, procrastination, impulsivity, distractibility, and difficulty with transitions.
• Taking Charge of Adult ADHD
  Author: Russell A. Barkley
  Publisher: Guilford Press (New York, NY, 2010), 294 pages
  Summary: This is a step-by-step guide for adults with ADHD on getting an evaluation, choosing medication, the nature of ADHD, and knowing and mastering ADHD in specific areas of life including education, work, finances, relationships, driving, and health.
• Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults
  Author: Thomas Brown
  Publisher: Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, 2006), 384 pages
  Summary: This book addresses common myths that surround ADHD, and explains how the disorder affects both children and adults. The author disputes the explanation of a lack of willpower as the reason for low achievement, and describes how malfunctions in the brain of those with ADHD can affect performance throughout the lifespan. 
• More Attention, Less Deficit
  Author: Ari Tuckman
  Publisher: Specialty Press (Plantation, FL, 2009), 380 pages
  Summary: This book describes how the ADHD brain processes information and how that leads to typical challenges that people with ADHD experience, as well as why certain strategies are effective and others aren't. It covers topics including how ADHD affects people's lives, getting an evaluation/diagnosis, time management and getting organized.
• You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder
  Also available in audio format
  Authors: Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo
  Publisher: Scribner (New York, NY, 2006), 482 pages
  Summary: This book is one of the most popular ever written about ADHD in adults. It is written by adults with ADHD and offers information, support and advice on managing the disorder in all areas of life.
• ADHD in Adults: What the Science Says
  Authors: Russell A. Barkley, Kevin R. Murphy, and Mariellen Fischer
  Publisher: Guilford Press (New York, NY, 2007), 489 pages
  Summary: This book analyzes findings from two major studies directed by Russell A. Barkley and Kevin R. Murphy. Information is presented on the significant impairments produced by the disorder across major areas of life, including educational outcomes, work, relationships, health behaviors, and mental health. The book also points the way toward developing better diagnostic criteria that center on executive function deficits. 

Page updated August, 2012