My objective when writing Alcohol Explained was to explain alcohol and alcoholism from a chemical, physiological, and psychological standpoint.

Did I achieve my objective? That is not for me to say, it is for the alcoholics and problem drinkers the world over to say. It is they who will be the ultimate judge. And I genuinely believe that it is for them and for no one else to judge. It is the alcoholic who knows most about the phenomenon of alcoholism and who is best placed to judge if I have hit the mark or not, after all, it is they who have lived and breathed this curse for however many years they have suffered it. Someone seeking to shed light on this subject who has never suffered from alcoholism is like a person trying to write a travel guide for a country they have never visited.

So what is the response to the book so far? This you can see for yourselves by reading the reviews readers have left on Amazon (here are the links to UK and US Amazon pages). The two have different reviews, so it is worth looking at both of them. What I will say is that every review genuine. There is not a single review or a single piece of feedback from someone I know; these are all reviews from people who have independently read the book and very kindly taken the time to leave feedback.

Alcohol Explained is not a doctrine you have to follow or a set of steps or instructions you need to accept and work through. It is not a personal testimony designed to inspire you to a life of sobriety. It is simply information. It is up to you, the reader, to judge the worth of that information, to accept or reject it as you see fit, and to put it to whatever use you wish. It is science, observations, and conclusions. And by science, I am using the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word: “The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.”

If you are interested in reading further, then please have a look at the ‘1st 5 Chapters’. It is probably also worth looking at the ‘Additional Content.’ When I wrote Alcohol Explained I wanted it to be as short and concise as it reasonably could be. I couldn’t cover everything because the book would become too long and unwieldy. I tried to include what I thought were the keys points needed to get a good overall understanding of alcohol and alcoholism. It was not an easy call to make, and even now I am far from sure that I have stuck the right balance. Be that as it may, the Additional Content section of the site contains both additional chapters that didn’t make it into the book, and chapters that made it into later editions (placed on the website so that people who have earlier editions of the book don’t need to buy extra copies).

Between the first five chapters and the additional content, you should get a fairly good idea of what is in the book. If you find something in the first five chapters and the additional content that is interesting or useful then the chances are that you will find something interesting or useful in the rest of the book. If you think it is all a load of old rubbish then, frankly, the rest of the book doesn’t get any better, and you are better off saving your money. However, I hope you do find something of use to you. I found the book incredibly difficult to write, and very nearly didn’t bother. If you do find anything in there of use, anything at all, then as far as I am concerned the effort was worthwhile.