Responsible Drinking & Other Myths is the first of five booklets written by Robert C. Hickle between 1976 and 1980. Drawing on 40 years of experience where he developed employee assistance programs (in both the railroad and manufacturing industries), counseling hundreds of alcoholics and addicts, Bob developed his own way of seeing the alcoholic/addict, their families, the addictions profession, and society’s view of alcohol.

His unique view starts from having had parents who were both alcoholics, then raised by his grandmother, who was a teetotaler and a member of the Women’s Temperance League. If you asked him, he would tell you he never had even a sip of alcohol, believing that if he did, he’d go down the same road as his parents. This was quite an accomplishment given that Bob served in both the Army and Navy during WWII. Additionally, he served on several boards and committees during the initial development of alcoholism treatment programs, in the state of Iowa, while also being a Boy Scout Leader, an active member of the Methodist Church, and an avid outdoorsman.

His booklets contain his words of wisdom in short chapters and with pithy titles like: “Dealing with the Tensions of Sobriety,” “Sober and in Trouble,” and “Psychic Pain” as he relates his observations, experiences, and perspectives on working mostly with alcoholics. Always coming from the perspective of caring about the alcoholic and seeing himself as much as a student learning from the alcoholic about the nature and course of alcoholism and its recovery.

I was fortunate to be a friend of his for several years then, and as he prepared for retirement. I, not being one to mince words, asked him what would happen to his booklets after he died. “I guess they’ll die with me,” was his response. It was at that point that I offered to keep his works alive, by keeping them in print - first only as a book, then as e-books, and now as audiobooks. Making allowances for the time in which he wrote, and recognizing that most of his work was with alcoholics, you’ll find that they have endured the test of time, and that what he wrote can easily be applied to any addictive behavior. You will enjoy his words, finding as he said, “I write the way I talk” - clear, to-the-point, and jargon-free.