Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Something that works October 9, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book. I think it should be read by everyone on the planet as much of it refers to how we should be living. Knowledgeable, understanding, honest, funny, John Coats has said it as it really is. I would think that most people who have private and sometimes public battles with alcohol do not feel good about themselves, the life choices they make and the ones that bypass them. The pain felt by the secrecy of dependency or the constant guilt at being a disappointment is directly addressed. This book provides solid, excellent information to help you see that you are not alone and that you are not hopeless. If dependent, you are not weak, which is a common belief, you are unwell. He can help you see how to become well. This isn't a simple cure all. This is a very candid, hard hitting book. He tells it like it is. But he also tells you that it doesn't have to be like this, and he tells it with honesty.
Life-saving and life-changing August 22, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
It would be no exaggeration to say that this book helped to save my life. If I hadn't read this book I would probably have carried on drinking. If I had carried on drinking it would have killed me sooner or later. It's also true to say that this book helped to change my life in some very positive ways. It pointed me towards the Twelve Step programme and explained to me how to use it. I've never been happier than I am now and I'm much better at dealing with setbacks nowadays. As another reviewer said, this book is the real deal.
Best I've read so far August 18, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book answers nearly all the questions I had about how to recover from an addiction. I've read quite a lot of books about addiction and recovery. What makes this one the best and most readable (so far) is that the information is often conveyed through anecdotes from the author's life. I don't usually enjoy reading self-help books but I did enjoy this one. An easy and enjoyable way of getting a grip on the principles of 12 Step recovery. Very helpful.
 best practical book on 12 Step recovery August 16, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
An excellent read, written by a recovered alcoholic. A practical guide to how to work the 12 Steps (AA) which the author sees as the best way to overcome the emotional and spiritual emptiness at the core of all addiction. This book really makes sense of what the 12-Step approach is all about and why it works - mostly because John Coates has clearly 'been there'. The book is particularly good at explaining the dishonest, sordid and compelling way that the addictive process/personality takes over the mind of the addict so that he lives in a kind of self made hell of his/her own denial. Working the Steps is a powerful exit strategy from this. Partly because 'denial' is counter-acted by seeing in other members of AA the denial we cannot see in ourselves! The book examines having relationships whilst in recovery, how to make amends to people we have hurt, interspersed with the authors own autobiographical account of his recovery. Each of the steps is discussed with practical examples of how they should be worked. Coates is an excellent recovery role model, now 14years recovered and being the director of an addictions agency in Norfolk. It should be borne in mind for anyone exploring recovery for the first time, that AA is not the only route to addiction recovery - the other main ones being Human Givens, Rational Recovery (check out the books of Jack Trimpey and de Sensa) and the Cognitive Behavioural approaches (CBT, REBT, Cognitive Analytic Therapy). Ultimately everyone has to make up their own mind out how to recover - and find out through practical testing which is the best route for them. This review written by a qualified addictions counsellor.
Simple, practical, clever. July 6, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've read a lot of books about recovery but this is one of the best. It guides the reader through the whole process of detoxification and then explains how to use the 12 Step program to build a more enjoyable life, free of addictions. There's no pretentious psychological jargon in the book and the author manages to make it all seem clear and simple. The writing style is real, personal and free of waffle - never patronising. Great book, strongly recommended.
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