Customer Reviews

Cool Water: Alcoholism, Mindfulness, and Ordinary Recovery

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The miracle of everyday life, lived soberly and mindfully is eloquently offered to readers of this small book. If you have had a stormy relationship with life, with addiction, with spirituality, with AA or other twelve-step programs of recovery, you may find a taste of grace here, as I did. Alexander's experience with addiction, his Zen practice, his work with other people and his mastery of story-telling with humor and metaphor qualify him to do this work. I also strongly recommend looking him up and participating in an Ordinary Recovery Workshop.

While many "self-help" or recovery books seem stilted or caught up in their own wisdom, Bill's thoughts are very elegant and illuminating... Elegant in their simplicity and comforting in their honesty and apparent truth. This book has been a great comfort to me in a time of great turmoil in my life. Thank you for sharing with us....

I really enjoyed this book a great deal. Don't buy it expecting a detailed treatise on either AA or Buddhism, but an wonderful positive journey that shows how the two approaches each have great value. It is a very honest, brave, and heart-felt book. My experience is that many books in this genre are either too flowery, dogmatic, or impersonal to be meaningful, but not this one, IMHO.

While a large part of addiction is an escape from feeling and living in the pain and suffering of the present moment, this book offers a profoundly inspirational, yet simple perspective to guide recovery from alcoholism and other forms of addiction.

William Alexander uses mindfulness teachings and meditation to ultimately help achieve transcendence from the addiction. In the present moment, Alexander explains, is where we achieve our healing and wholeness.

A very special book, indeed. I found this book to be one of the best I've ever read on recovery. The author is an eloquent and honest writer, who creates a powerful and poetic guide for simple everyday recovery & living.

I first paged through this book at a bookstore in a Trappist Monastery where I went for a writing retreat. I found it intriguing and mentioned to a friend who is trying his darndest to stay sober again.I bought this book for him after he gave me the okay as I would never presume to give a self help book to someone without asking if they wanted it first. I meant to send it directly to him but goofed on the order form so it came to my address. I'm glad I opened the package and took the time to read it. I found it very enlightening. It helped me to understand my friends ongoing bouts with the bottle, his many attempts at sobriety with subsequent epic drunk runs. I feel a lot more compassionate toward his repeated self destructive behaviors and hope I will be able to convey this if/when he has another relapse. Also it has given me insight into the many ways I also engage in addictive behaviors and what the sources for them may be. I thought his statement that alcohol is not the problem, it's what people use to treat the underlying loneliness, self loathing, shame, etc. was so right on. The Buddhist philosophy and mindfulness practices have a light touch. Nothing preachy here. I would recommend this to anyone seeking answers and a technique for finding their way out of the pain of addictions.

I originally heard about this book while listening to the radio in my car. It was recommended by Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl who was discussing his own recovery from alcohol. I have read this book 3 times, and each time it has been more helpful than the last. Yes, there is a Zen slant, but that should not keep anyone from reading this book and finding it helpful. If you really want to stop drinking you will embrace help from wherever it comes. Read this book with an open mind and you will be pleasantly surprised where it takes you. I have not had a drink of alcohol for 7 years, and owe much of the success for changing my life to this book.

It gave me a differant view on recovery. It was presented as a combination of the Big Book, Zen Buddism and the orange papers and althou I found very little of the Orange papers in it I enjoyed his perspective and his physiological definition of alchoholism and how the liver works.

I was immediately pulled into this book. Not only does the author share helpful strategies and philosophies pertinent and inspiring for someone struggling with recovery, but he also shares his humanness- his story and struggles- even today. I laughed out loud numerous times while reading this book. I highly recommend this book.

Cool Water had me laughing out loud before I finished the book. It is a refreshing look at mindfulness in recovery with a creative twist. I liked it.