Books telling us to give up drinking are 10 a penny, but how about something for those of us who like a social drink but are occasionally worried that two turn into four rather too easily? In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. It really did give me food for thought – in a good way – and I have been waxing lyrical to friends (over drinks! There are loads of books about quitting the booze completely – but not many about just cutting down and not being a ‘heavy’ drinker. Yet while the alcohol industry depends on a minority of problem drinkers, the majority really do enjoy in moderation.

First and foremost, alcohol is so woven into the fabric of my life, in all sorts of different ways, that it would take a great deal of unpicking. More shocking than that, though, was the figure I got to when I considered how many of those drinks I could have done without. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. This is a positive for book for all of us who drink too much, know it and want to to do something about it.I manage to run a successful business and a family of four, so I can’t be doing that much damage to myself. I have a number of friends who have given up alcohol completely, and had various mental health issues entwined with alcohol issues (although none were lying in a doorstep alcoholics, cracking open the vodka at breakfast) but at the same time I didn’t feel my husband and I had ‘that much of a problem’. He details his experiences in cutting down, to comic and insightful effect, and skilfully but never preachingly, offers suggestions for others, too. It wasn’t so much the social interactions I struggled with; the laughing and chatting were no problem. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

What is unique to New Mocktails Bible, are recipes provided by many alcohol-free drink producers, using their own products. As it turned out, I had a really good time, but it became startlingly clear how reliant I was on alcohol.

It's in these stitches that the quilt of life begins, and embedded in them are strength, warmth, humour and humanity. If I lined up all the drinks I’d drunk in a forty-year drinking career, stretching back to my mid-teens, that line would be around three miles long. There is some practical advice here, but it is more about presenting an alternative to giving up completely. Over the last few years he has cut down significantly though, as he tells in the personal chapters of the book which cover his whole drinking life, from his first teenage beers to today.

The “soul” of the book’s title doesn’t refer to a religious idea by the way, but more to an internal essence we all have. Being a B Corp means we’re committed to being a responsible business that has a positive impact for people and the planet, as we work for a world in which people drink mindfully and live well.This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. The combination of facts and anecdotes means it’s an interesting and amusing read and I plan to follow Adrian’s example and be more mindful about what I consume alcohol-wise going forwards.