October 14, 2011
Abilene, Texas

We have used SURVIVED TO LOVE by Ed H with over two hundred clients in our drug and alcohol treatment groups at the Community Supervision and Corrections Department for Taylor, Callahan, and Coleman Counties, Texas, through the last year. The experience has been a good one, and we – and most of the clients – would recommend the book for other programs. Survived to Love is the work of an alcoholic, sober more than thirty-three years, a survivor of throat cancer using an electrolarnyx for two years when Hurricane Katrina obliterated his neighborhood in Gulfport, Missis­sippi. Ed’s a real alcoholic, as they describe themselves, and at times his narrative is hard to follow, jumping around both in time and place throughout his life. The editors have added graphics – WHOOSH leaning forward for a sudden jump to the future, leaning backward for the past, as well as a putt-putt car as he jumps around the map. The stories, though, for that very reason strike home, and they cover the gamut of learning to live a sober life. Our practice is to give each probationer a Big Book and Survived to Love – because EVERYBODY needs hope, and it’s in these books.

_____/signed____________________
Cecil Gillespie, LCDC, CART

_____/signed____________________
Brad Davis, Counselor Intern