Cool, Hip & Sober: 88 Ways to Beat Booze and Drugs - Hardcover

Manville, Bill

3.79

19 ratings by Goodreads

9780765303141: Cool, Hip & Sober: 88 Ways to Beat Booze and Drugs

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765303140 ISBN 13: 9780765303141

Publisher: Forge Books, 2003

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In a refreshingly clear-headed and informed approach to addiction, noted writer and radio host Bill Manville sums up what he's learned in more than forty years of research . . . twenty as a demon-driven drunk and twenty in recovery.

From his popular show "Addictions and Answers," broadcast from KVML in Sonora, California, Manville has compiled a list of 88 questions and answers from, as he says, "a ton of plain and fancy drunks and dopers and their friends and families." As well, he offers valuable advice and information from his guests: noted psychiatrists, psychologists, rehab counselors, MDs, academics, and more.

Here, in first-person detail, are responses to the issues faced by alcoholics, addicts, and their loved ones, such as:

� How to intervene with a substance-abusing friend
� How alcoholics can protect themselves from relapses
� Evaluating therapies, both individual and group
� How alcohol affects sex
� Definitions of "social drinker," "heavy drinker," and alcoholic
� The many faces of denial
� Is alcoholism inherited?
� How to choose the right rehab
� Is there an addictive personality?
� What role does spirituality play in recovery?

A brave and transformational look at the treatment of chemical dependency, Cool, Hip, and Sober is a captivating, insightful and essential handbook for overcoming denial and achieving a peaceful, long-term recovery.

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Review:

Bill Manville knows about battling booze--getting drunk, staying drunk, getting sober, relapsing, and, finally, staying sober for more than 20 years. Host of a talk show, Addictions & Answers, Manville writes in Q&A format, addressing his questioners' concerns about alcohol and drug abuse and recovery. Many are in denial about their alcoholism--despite waking up with strangers and losing jobs and relationships or think that life won't be any fun without a drink in both hands. Manville pulls no punches setting them straight. Despite his been-there-done-that, witty, sometimes confrontational style, he remains caring and positive. His advice is based on his own experience as a lush ("you hate the glass in your hand, pray to God not to drink it, and lift it to your lips and gulp it down anyway") and a devotee of Alcoholics Anonymous and residential treatment programs. He often brings in experts to supplement his advice. The section on formal interventions is worth the price of the book by itself. Highly recommended both for people who think that their alcohol or drug habit might be a problem and for their family and friends. --Joan Price

From the Inside Flap:

"What an inspiring book! Doesn't hurt that the author is a superb writer. I never read anything like this and am thrilled to recommend the book to anybody with the problem himself/herself or with a suffering family member."
-Helen Gurley Brown-Editor in Chief, Cosmopolitan magazine

"I was so moved time and again as I experienced the truth in these extraordinary pieces written by people who have been to the edge, flirted with disaster, and returned to new and better lives."
-Dominick Dunne

"From the drinking man's classic, "Saloon Society," in the sixties, to his sadder but wiser, Cool, Hip, and Sober, Bill Manville has consistently provided an honest, insightful first-person account of where alcoholism begins-and where it ends. The hard won wisdom of his latest book will be of value to anyone struggling with addiction."
-Keith Humphreys, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry Stanford University School of Medicine

"In my fifty-five years of journalism, I've seen a lot of people-including reporters and politicians-die from drink and drugs. Cool, Hip, and Sober could have prevented their untimely deaths. In fact, my only complaint is that Bill Manville didn't write and publish Cool, Hip, and Sober fifty-five years ago. It will undoubtedly save a lot of lives. Poignant and poetic, frank and funny, it makes sobriety seem quintessentially cool, so hip it hurts. Cool, Hip, and Sober is a book to give to those who suffer and to the friends and loved ones who suffer along with them. It is a book destined to redeem us all."
-Jack Anderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist

"In my twenty-one years in the field of recovery from alcohol and drug addiction many books on the subject have crossed my desk - factual and up to date but difficult for the troubled laymen to act on . . . that is why I think Cool, Hip, and Sober is unique. As a psychologist and chemical dependency professional myself, it is of great value to be able to provide my university students with an accurate portrayal of addiction . . . a text that bridges the gap from that professional perspective to the world of families who have known the personal truth of the journey so richly described in this remarkable text."
-Dr. Dave Moore, University of Washington, former Director, McDonald Rehabilitation Center, Scripps Health, San Diego

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