Is there a name for a prop that recovering addicts keep around to remind them of their former selves? You know, a memento of the bad old days: a shard of glass, a cop's report, a cirrhotic liver, a broken mind.
Or a book: In David Carr's case, an account of his years of brown liquor, white rock, and needle marks in the neck, years as remembered by himself, somewhat -- with the gaps filled in and well-placed inaccuracies corrected by fellow travelers, innocent bystanders, and collateral victims of his multi-decade experiment with controlled substances. ...