Why is it suggested to read 1st 164 pgs of big book
Only easy day was yesterday
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Randolph , Massachusetts
Posts: 48
Why is it suggested to read 1st 164 pgs of big book
I've been around AA for 18,years yet sober 4 but months and have heard of many suggestions however reading the first
164 pages of the big book has caused me to be curious, by no means am i disagreeing with this afterall the big book is the
bible of AA therefore i have no problem at all, anyway can you please tell me how this came about because i know for a fact
Bill Wilson and Dr Bob didn't come up with this idea/suggestion, thank you.
Coop
164 pages of the big book has caused me to be curious, by no means am i disagreeing with this afterall the big book is the
bible of AA therefore i have no problem at all, anyway can you please tell me how this came about because i know for a fact
Bill Wilson and Dr Bob didn't come up with this idea/suggestion, thank you.
Coop
Not Alone
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: South East UK
Posts: 1,513
I am in NA. And rather than working through the steps using a step working guide I am working it the way my sponsor worked it, and his sponsor before him etc. So that gets us back like 20 or 30 so years. So basically I work the steps by reading specific chapters in the Basic Text, Green and Gold but also the big book. For the first couple of steps the first 164 pages of the big book features quite prominently in the readings. I imagine it's just because those first 164 pages are so helpful in your early recovery. I mean that includes the doctors opinion and there is a solution.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
The first 164 pages of the Big Book is also known as the basic text of the Big Book. That is because it is;
1. An edited version of the Original Manuscript
2. Pretty much the same in all 4 Editions
3. Contains all the directions for doing the steps.
1. An edited version of the Original Manuscript
2. Pretty much the same in all 4 Editions
3. Contains all the directions for doing the steps.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
It's the only place you will find the instructions for taking the steps, and it is the basic text book of our society.
Like all text books, it needs to be studied. The first few times I read it like a novel and didn't learn much. These days I am participating in a Big book Study group which I find immensely rewarding.
The foreword of the first edition explains exactly what the first 164 pages are for, they are the program of AA. Bill, Bob and the others wrote the book in the hope that we would read it.
"We, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book."
Like all text books, it needs to be studied. The first few times I read it like a novel and didn't learn much. These days I am participating in a Big book Study group which I find immensely rewarding.
The foreword of the first edition explains exactly what the first 164 pages are for, they are the program of AA. Bill, Bob and the others wrote the book in the hope that we would read it.
"We, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main purpose of this book."
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