Pharmaceutical companies have introduced new medicines to treat dependence, reverse overdoses, and deal with opioids side effects, but few effective alternatives to addictive painkillers have emerged from the laboratory.

Here are some finance books to check out over the holidays and new year -- some are classics, some may be a bit off the beaten path.

A pill embedded with a sensor that can tell doctors if and when a patient takes his or her medication is touted as a solution to prescription medication nonadherence, which costs the American health care system between $100 billion and $289 billion a year.