Today I was thrilled to receive an amazing Editorial Review from the Independent Review of Books who have awarded my book, “Holmes’s Complete Guide To Stop Drinking Alcohol; The Easy, Mindful and Pain-free Way” their Gold Badge of Achievement for being “fact-based highly entertaining”, “crisp and well written” and a “must-read if you want to totally abstain from drinking alcohol.” In their words, “In Short, a great self-help book.”

I couldn’t have asked for anything better from this prestigious international publishing house and industry expert, which makes all the long and lonely hours of research and writing burning the midnight oil finally seem worth it!

Although what really kept me going was the thought that I was actually saving someone’s life I hadn’t met yet, and I was determined to prove to them that, a) not only was their life worth saving, but b) that it could be saved. Self-belief is sometimes the hardest thing of all when you’re suffering with a drinking problem, and when you’re writing 90,000 words!!!

I wouldn’t be normal if I didn’t have the occasional dark night of the soul during the writing process but because I’d been there, my senses were totally attuned to whether any research  was worth giving a d*mn for, or not! But I didn’t want to make up the reader’s mind for them. I knew I wouldn’t listen to anyone lecturing me, which is why I only used direct quotes from predominantly primary research, and ended up with over 300+ academic references fully sourced.  I am so pleased that this was recognised by The Independent Review of Books, who wrote:

“The book presents various hypotheses and backs it up with facts and current research findings and then enables you to form your own conclusions.”

Because this is exactly what I was trying to achieve. I didn’t want to “Tell” so much as “Show” both sides, even when I personally strongly disagreed, for example, with research showing sex is better on alcohol.

Here are their comments in full:

Which line stood out from all the others in the book?

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination”.

General Summary for Context

The book focuses on how to stop drinking alcohol using a simple pain-free and mindfulness-based approach. There are numerous anecdotes, a leitmotif of a Sherlock Holmes narrative running in the background of the book, extensive research and a fact-based reasoning approach. It includes an extensive bibliography to further add credence to the various overall hypotheses that are made and validated in the book. In short, a great self-help book.

Concise Review

The book is a fact-based highly entertaining take on how to stop drinking alcohol using an easy, mindful and pain-free approach. It is highly practical and enlightens you on many techniques like assessments, tests, contracts, meditation, mindfulness and fact-based reasonings backed up by research findings and an extensive bibliography that ultimately gives you hope in your constant struggle to stop drinking alcohol. It also enables you to reach a state of total alcohol abstention and become a full-fledged teetotaler in the future. Inspired by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the book is a must-read if you want to totally abstain from drinking alcohol. 

General thoughts on the Novel

A crisp and well-written book based on facts and sound reasoning with an extensive bibliography, research findings and anecdotes that give you hope in an otherwise uphill struggle to battle the effects of alcoholism. It appeals to the rational mind through fact-based reasoning and enables you to form your own conclusions. The book presents various hypotheses and backs it up with facts and current research findings and then enables you to form your own conclusions. Since you have formed your own conclusion, you are bound to follow it up and track it to closure. However, in all these types of scenarios, it is imperative that as an individual you should live up to the counselling contract signed so that the book may help you to the maximum extent. Not living up to the counselling contract or not following the steps outlined in the book may negate the full benefits that are indicated in the book.

Holmes’s Complete Guide To Stop Drinking Alcohol; The Easy, Mindful and Pain-free Way by Mark Holmes is available in paperback on Amazon.com here for only $21.99.