The man of thirty (Page 32)

Page 32:  2nd Paragraph

“The man of thirty who was ambitious in business and remained bone dry for 25 years only to die after 4 years of drinking.”

This story was probably adapted from the chapter “First Steps” in the book, “The Common Sense of Drinking” by Richard Peabody.  There is one story on page 37 that speaks of a man 36 years old that had been drinking for 16 years and another story on page 123 regarding a man who gave up drinking to make millions of dollars.

Neither one of these actually match the story in the Bog Book.  The story on page 123 is the one that most closely matches the story in our book.  The big discrepancy in the story is the amount of sobriety this man had (full text below).  The Big Book speaks of 25 years of sobriety and the other states he had 5 years sober.

“Some years ago there lived a man who decided to give up drinking until he could make a million dollars, at which time he intended to drink in moderation.  It took him 5 years of sobriety to make the million; then he begins his “moderate” drinking.  In tow or three years he lost his money, and in another three he died of alcoholism.”