Hi Ten
Ah - 'tis in my nature. I couldn't read just one book - I had to read them all!
What you say is very interesting about the use of the word "alcoholic". Need we even use the term? Should we be regarded as forever sick or in the grip of alcohol? I'm not suggesting attempting to moderate use or of forgetting how dangerously ill alcohol has and can make many of us.
I once broke my arm (whilst sober, very unfair!) but it is no longer broken although I do tend to guard it a little on hazardous stairs or paths. Can't "alcoholism" be viewed in the same light?
One thing that I have noticed in the AA Big Book is that so many of the stories begin with or contain the words "I always knew I was different" or some form of those words. Are problem drinkers different from non-problem drinkers? I'm no more "different" than anyone else that I know well enough to know whether they are unusual.
My view is that the problem drinker is made, not born. Through continued excessive ingestion we may become physically dependent and it may become our sole way of coping with any excess of situation or emotion. That is a learned behaviour and so hopefully can be unlearned. Through powerfulness.
Best wishes
Jane