I’ve reviewed books about addiction and recovery, but this
is the first one I read that’s 100% practical. The author, Kenneth Anderson, doesn’t squirm away from
methods that might seem too radical, such as marijuana maintenance as a
replacement for alcohol. Damage control, pacing yourself, dealing with friends
who drink, they’re all covered here. There’s also a section on hangover cures
in different lands, and most of them involve salt; kimchee in Korea, borscht in
Russia, pickled cabbage in China.
My favorite part of the book was the chapter on risk
assessment. The author provides charts that the reader can fill in to determine
how much risk there is in his drinking. The risks can include drunk dialing,
drunk driving, cooking fires, operating machinery while drunk, shooting a firearm
while drunk. In the next column, you plot your method of prevention. Will you
leave the car at home? Leave the cell phone at home? Limit yourself to one
drink? If you need to refuse a drink and the host insists, do you say you’re in
recovery, on a diet, doctor’s orders, or get up and leave?
Anderson doesn’t ignore the facts. He know that breaking a
habit is a massive undertaking, no matter how much you want to quit.
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