An interesting look at the ways alcohol changes your brain. It gets very repetitive, but there are helpful points, especially if you’re trying to understand the addiction of a loved one. ( )

There are some bold claims in this book—heck, the title itself is pretty bold, but I like the author’s radically different approach to overcoming alcohol addiction. It took me a while to realize what she was doing, but the more I read, the more I realized the point of the whole book is to get the unconscious mind on the same page with the conscious mind about alcohol.
One of the book’s main points is that people have trouble stopping or even recognizing their drinking has become a problem because we live in a culture in which the majority of the population drinks, and where drinking is celebrated. This affects us on an unconscious level so that even when a conscious decision to quit drinking is made, there’s cognitive dissonance which sabotages efforts to change.
One thing the author said that I’ve never heard before is that everyone has the potential to become an addict, not just people with a particular temperament or gene. Alcohol is a drug, and addiction comes with frequency of use. Everyone who drinks travels a path that leads to addiction. Not everyone travels at the same pace or reaches the end before they die, so some never reach the end point of addiction, but it’s still the same path. This actually makes a lot of sense to me.
The author details her own negative experiences with alcohol which fueled her desire to give it up, relates facts about the damage it does to the body and brain, and argues that the way we consume alcohol doesn’t make sense when compared with the way we consume any other food or drink. She’s adamant and persuasive, and I’m right there with her and her anger toward alcohol and the damage it does.
I read this out loud to an addicted loved one, a chapter or two at a time. He needed a fresh look at things, and I hope this approach unlocks something important. ( )

Exceptional book filled with logical, scientific reasons why not to drink alcohol. One woman's journey and research.

Extremely motivational and informational. Highly recommend. A book to read again and again. ( )

This book changed my life, which was entirely unexpected. I successfully became spontaneously sober from alcohol in 2019 after reading this. Something I'd been trying to do for several years. Though I've had minor relapses since, they are just blips on the radar that do not set me back. I can break my rule, have a drink, feel temporarily bad about it, but not beat myself up to the extent that the relapse to pushes me back into a cycle of drinking (which used to be the pattern). Now, I consciously acknowledge the subconscious tendencies so much more quickly. It's quite empowering, and making the choice to not drink is very simple now, whereas before it was an existential struggle. It seems too good to be true, but if you're a very "in your head" kind of person who likes to overthink things and are open-minded enough to challenge your own assumptions, this could also very well change your life. Plus, I sleep waaaaaay better without alcohol in my system. Huzzah. ( )

There are some new and really interesting things in this book, such as the impact of alcohol and cancer. The reason I only gave it three stars is I found it a preachy and I got a bit fed up with her saying what a fab time she was having since being teetotal. Nothing wrong with that in itself but as everything else was backed up and referenced by scientific study, I wanted something a bit more objective and substantial. ( )