whatcouldbe

So I have only got online version but I watched a guy at work with the "book". Not sure what the drive is with it? Am I reading it wrong? The guy in question is morbidly obese and was reading it out in the open HOWEVER I know for a fact he drinks like mad and abuses his body and his girlfriend! What am I missing? What does the book do? Is it an introspective read or like a how to? I am crying for help but thinking now AA and the book is all wrong for me?!?! Where to start.....

Carlotta

Maybe you could start by going to a meeting?

Taking5

So a guy who drinks, is overweight, abuses his GF is reading a book in an apparent attempt to improve his life, and from this you conclude that AA and the BB are possibly not right for you? Seriously?

Maybe you ought to read the book.

LadyinBC

What does this person have to do with your recovery?

I personally read the book even when I was drinking. I even went to a AA meetings and drank right after them.

You can't judge a book until you read it. Don't find excuses not to do something if it might help you in sobriety.

I could always find lots of reasons not to do something so I had to find reasons, even little ones, to do something. And to stop looking at what everyone else is doing and judging them.

It's your recovery, find a reason to do it for you. Even that one small thing in a book or a meeting can make something click.

sugarbear1

The book made no sense to me until I read it with my sponsor.

whatcouldbe

I feel i must apologize. I do not mean to insult the book and really am not judgemental of this individual. I guess with the delivery of my questions it is easy to assume these things. Ultimately the question is what is the book made to be? I find a lot of religion in it and am curious. Just a question, however poorly you can judge the delivery.....

Ruby2

When I first read the big book I had a hard time figuring it out. So did a lot of people. It's basically a road map of the AA program. What was suggested to me was to read the book and the stories and look for similarities to me and not the differences.

Mountainmanbob

probably not
but it does take much study it seems to truly get it
at least it did for me

it wasn't until my sponsor (nick name Big Book)
really got to studying the Big Book with me
did I start to get a clue

before even moving on
we should read and study well the "Doctors Opinion"

if we don't relate to many of the stories told in the BB
well -- that would be unusual if alcoholic

Mountainman

ultradad

Have you been to a meeting yet WCB? I think a lot more will make sense once we get to meetings and talk with others. Don't stress over the Big Book, all that will come with time. If you think you're an alcoholic then check out some meetings and go from there.

Anna

I have read the Big Book, though I don't use AA.

I think that no one can tell you what to get out of it and what it's meant to be. It's up to you to read it and interpret it as it affects you.

FeenixxRising

The ideas, contents and concepts in the Big Book are pretty simple:

1) The Big Book gives an opinion and an explanation of the nature of alcoholism. Note that the Big Book is not a medical text, and its opinion and explanation of alcoholism is 75 years old and is not a definitive medical opinion regarding alcoholism. However, I do find its explanation of alcohol addiction to be very close to my own experience.

2) The writers of the book contend that the only solution for most alcoholics is a spiritual solution. That the majority of alcoholics cannot quit on their own, and must rely on a Higher Power (a God of one's understanding) to remove the obsession for alcohol.

3) The book gives a description of the 12-Steps, which are designed to give alcoholics a spiritual experience and a connection with God that will remove the obsession for alcohol.

4) The book shows readers how to work each of the 12-Steps; although, some of those explanations are a little vague IMO.

5) The book explains that passing along the message of the 12-Steps is an important element of remaining sober. That working with other alcoholics is one of the best ways to stay sober.

5) The book ends with anecdotal stories written by AA members who have recovered from alcoholism by working the 12-Steps and using AA.

There is other information, but IMO the Big Book's ultimate message is this: Almost all alcoholics have no defense against taking a drink and no human power can keep an alcoholic from drinking. That power must come from a Higher Power (a God of one's choosing). From the Big Book: "The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power."

I don't use AA or the 12-Steps for my sobriety; however, there are many people on this site who do. IMO the best way to understand AA and the 12-Steps is to attend a number of different meetings and read the Big Book completely. If you feel AA is not for you, there are other methods that will help you achieve and maintain sobriety.

PurpleKnight

The goal is to be Sober, that's the important thing, the method we use to achieve that is different for everyone, AA and the big book works for many, but ultimately you need to find a method that works for you!!

ScottFromWI

I am not in AA but I read the big book and especially the stories of others. You can interpret it however you want. There are specific AA meetings to the Big Book as well where a different passage is read and discussed, you could certainly check one out if you wanted to know more from an AA standpoint.

readerbaby71

Read it if you want to know more. Everyone has their own interpretation and gets different things out of it.

Ruby2

You can also read the little red book. It is AA literature and to me it was easier to read in the beginning than the big book. I referred to it as The Big Book for Dummies because it explained more and in terms I understood.

MIRecovery

FXXR Excellent summation especially from a non AAer. I doubt anyone AA or not could have done a much better job

desypete

this post made me smile

the book is a great aid to recovery without doubt it explains alcoholics and alcoholism, down to a t

i know i learnt so much from the book like how it describes the insanity of this illness

it describes the life of a jay walker who gets his kicks from trying to dash infront of moving traffic

he ends up in hospital as he got knocked down, desperate to give up this madness and swears to his family he will stop it
yet when he is released he tries it again only to pursue it on and on until one day he will lose and end up dead

now to me that is pretty crazy behavior and it made me see my own behavior in drink was just the same. its crazy its insane !!!

the part about the actor who wears so many masks, was me there is so much in the book that i get id with

the book to me is like one huge aa share, i get my wisdom from the people in aa and there strengths and hopes as they have done it all before me and come out the other end and still are living it daily

the living sober book is a very good read for new comers as well if you can get hold of one of those books : )

Nuudawn

Well whatcouldbe..if that fellow is struggling with the abuse of alcohol, food and his wife...one could surmise that perhaps he is looking for help? I doubt he is delighted with his personal situation despite any outward appearances. And whatever his gig is, it really has nothing to do with yours.

For me, the AA program is very much a "spiritual one". The 12 steps are a path in which one face's themselves perhaps for the very first time and strives towards moral and personal improvement. Some define spirituality as aligning oneself with the very essence of one's true benevolent being and the energetic synchronicity and caring found in fellowship with their fellow man.

Recovery is a deeply, personal experience where we often find much comfort and joy in sharing with those on the same path.

Soberpotamus

As Desy has already mentioned, the Living Sober booklet is a great practical book to get your hands on. It is just excellent for early sobriety, in my opinion. I wish someone had told me about it early on. I found it months after I was sober.

The Little Red Book is also a good one for explaining the Steps and parts of the Big Book. I read the The Little Red Book for Women.

As for the Big Book... Feenix laid it out well. I would recommend you turn to the back and read several of the personal stories. They might hold your attention first before you go for anything else. I've recently found stories in the back that I'd overlooked and they resonate so much with me! So many I relate to now that, before, I'm not sure I'd have made the clear connection right away.

The Big Book is full of wisdom, experience, and yes... some opinions that not everyone is going to like or agree with. The book itself lets you know that it is a suggestive book, and you are free to use from it what you need, and to not get too hung up on the rest.

Mountainmanbob

"to show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book."




The Big Book of AA: a lifeline to recovery

The book that introduced the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to the world has
never appeared on any best-seller list. It is not advertised or promoted. And its authors
will never appear on talk shows. Yet this book, now in its fourth edition, has sold over 23 million copies in English and is published in 48 languages.

That book is "Alcoholics Anonymous"--affectionately known to AA members as the "Big Book."

This book was conceived by a small group of recovering alcoholics, most of them in their first year or two of sobriety. Several of them had been diagnosed as hopeless cases. All of them had stopped drinking based on a new understanding of alcoholism.

Flush with success, the group wanted to codify its principles and reach more people. As the foreword to "Alcoholics Anonymous" notes,

Bill Wilson, AA's cofounder, drafted the first 11 chapters in 1938. Bill knew firsthand that alcoholics often excel at finding reasons to avoid telling the truth about their condition. Therefore he decided to lay out suggestions for recovery in a series of numbered steps that left no loopholes.

Step One set the tone: "We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable." The remaining steps spelled out related principles, asking that alcoholics:
•Accept daily guidance from a "Higher Power," a source of outside help that each person defines in his or her own way.
•Take a "moral inventory" of their personal strengths and weaknesses.
•Openly confess these characteristics to another person.
•Make amends to people they've harmed.
•Meditate and pray for the strength to actively share these principles with other people.

Bill expanded on these ideas, weaving them into a narrative of his own recovery that has remained unchanged since the book's first edition and is still widely quoted. This material, supplemented by firsthand accounts of other alcoholics who recovered through AA principles, became the Big Book.

The book's fourth edition, published in 2001, includes 42 stories, edited to reflect the cultural diversity of current AA members. In this form, the book serves as the core text of recovery for over 100,000 AA groups in 150 countries.

Today, everyone who enters treatment at Hazelden gets a copy of the Big Book.

"The thing that's effective about the Big Book is that it focuses on the internal consequences of alcoholism," says Dave Schreck, an addiction counselor at Hazelden in Center City, Minn. "The emphasis is not on the drinker who crashes five cars, loses jobs, and loses a spouse. That's a description that many alcoholics could rationalize away by saying, 'That's not me.' Instead, the book describes the ways that addiction leads people to violate their personal values."

Schreck advises that readers study the Big Book rather than read it casually.

"Most people find that the more they read the Big Book, the more they get out of it. They find things that they didn't see a year ago that are significant to them at this point in their recovery. It's an amazing book that way. You can read it again and find something new that jumps off the page."

You can order a copy of Alcoholics Anonymous online, or call 1-800-328-9000 to speak with a customer service representative.


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