Embracing Fear:  and Finding the Courage to Live Your Life
As with most popular books written by therapists, Rutledge's  includes many anecdotes from his practice. Unlike most, his  examples are equally balanced, with accounts of his own  challenges and recoveries. As a recovering alcoholic and a  therapy patient himself, as well as a syndicated columnist and  national lecturer, Rutledge is uniquely qualified to give advice  about overcoming fear and addiction. Although the writing is not  exciting, it is simple and accessible to most readers; Rutledge  expresses his opinions very candidly. The book lacks the  "how-to" call-out boxes and "to do" lists that break up the text  in many other psychology books, but the author does share with  us a few tools he uses, such as the metaphors of facing the wall  and going down the rungs of a ladder, the FEAR acronym, and the  identification of "the bully" and "the ally." Recommended for  all public library psychology collections. David Leonhardt,  TorontoCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.