High

David Sheff is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Beautiful Boy. Sheff's other books include Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His ongoing research and reporting on the science of addiction earned him a place on Time Magazine's list of the World's Most Influential People. Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.

Due to his parents' divorce, at age 4, Sheff spent much of his childhood bouncing back and forth between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. He began using alcohol and drugs early on, even before his teen years. By high school he was a regular user of ecstasy and cocaine. Living on the street much of the time, Sheff became involved in various destructive behaviors such as selling drugs and working as a prostitute in order to support his addiction. Eventually, faced with the choice of jail or rehab, Sheff dropped out of college to seek treatment, at which time he was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder.