Alcoholics Synonymous

From Chapter 3 ("Reclaiming Your Creativity") of Creative Design of Products and Systems (John Wiley & Sons, 2009):

A man comes to a bar and orders three glasses of beer, sits alone, and drinks from the three glasses one sip at a time. the bartender goes to him and says: " Sir, why don't you order one glass at a time so that your beer will be cool and fresh?" The man says: "I have two brothers that are not here. We used to drink together all the time. I am doing this as if they were here, drinking with me." This goes on until a few weeks later, when the man comes in and orders only two glasses. The bartender later goes to him and says: "I am really sorry for the loss of one of your brothers. You must really miss him." The man replies: "Oh, no. They are fine. It is that I have just decided to quit drinking."

Who said engineering textbooks have to be boring?