This is how:proven aid in overcoming shyness, molestation, fatness, spinsterhood, grief, disease, lushery, decrepitude & more-- for young and old alike / Augusten Burroughs 230 p.

I didn't read Scissors so can't comment on that book's relationship to this one.  Burroughs here takes it as a given that he had a disastrous childhood, assuming (probably correctly) that most of his readers will have gotten the scoop from his extremely successful earlier work.

This Is How is more self-help than memoir anyway and, works fine on its own.  Each chapter deals with one of the items in the title and describes Burrough's approach to dealing with it.  In a word, Burroughs mantra is truth: whatever it is that's causing you pain, look at it squarely, understand it , and put it behind you.  Regarding alcohol addiction, I suspect he knows exactly what he's talking about; the chapter on obesity I found unconvincing. 

What really shines here are the clarity of Burrough's prose and his intense earnestness.  He has been through hell, survived, and you can too.  Such is the power of his writing that, at least while reading, you believe it too.