Alcoholism: the Facts

Rating:
Summary: A superb and accessible look at a debilitating disorder.
Review: Goodwin's accessible, effortless style, which he used so well in previous editions, carries the reader nicely through the intricacies of one of the world's most popular drugs and its associated disorders. Excerpts from literature and case studies provide a superb feel for the phenomenology of addiction. Numerous entertaining quotes appear from everyone from Kissinger to Humpty Dumpty. Goodwin provides a thorough look at alcohol itself, the problems associated with excess consumption, common theories designed to account for these problems, and many of the available treatments. Through simple explanations of the correct interpretations of available data, Goodwin not only provides a great deal of meaningful information, but he teaches the reader to become a good consumer of research. This book is refreshingly scientific and lacks the horribly moralistic tone many books on this topic take.

Rating:
Summary: Reader
Review: I found this book disturbing. The author defines alcoholism most narrowly: basically one must be completely out of control and not functioning on any level to qualify. This book will provide refuge for the functioning alcoholic who is looking for a source to support his denial. The author takes "problem drinking" very lightly, suggesting that it can and does cure itself at the drinker's will. Much of this book contradicts everything I have read or heard from all other sources (and certainly my own experience with a "problem drinker.") The author also seems somewhat hostile to AA, a bias he should have disclosed in the preface. It is hard to believe that this book represents "the facts," any more than it represents the author's perspective. Readers should not assume that the author's MD makes him anything more than a human with an opinion; and in this case, one that is not broadly accepted.