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Rating: 
Summary: Philosophy, Spirituality, and Science
Review: Some people have sobered up, merely by reading the Big Book. That start, and the HOPE offered in these pages, can be the beginning of a New Life, if the Alcoholic is willing to become honest, open, and willing to talk to others about his problem with alcohol.
The Big Book points out that alcohol is merely the symptom of a much deeper problem, an almost undefinable and non-specific spiritual malady which makes it impossible for the alcoholic to feel at ease with himself and others, without the ease and comfort found in a few drinks. The Big Book points out how most alcoholics are driven by several elements: FEAR, RESENTMENT [old angers], etc... and can be free of these by talking to other alcoholics.
The Big Book is an outline for recovery, never claiming to be a "cure" or a certain solution for everyone and anything. Some people have recovered from alcoholism, though, and the Big Book offers a suggested outline that seems to help a few.
The first 164 pages of the Big Book is the outline for recovery, which constitute the "program" of recovery. Then comes a baker's dozen personal stories, and the apparent miraculous relief that certain problem drinkers have experienced, armed only with the hope that there just might be another way to live without having to fight constantly with alcohol or the phenomenon of craving. Nor did they have to practice a constant vigilance, tight-lipped and white-knuckled. Instead, the alcoholics in these stories tell of being entirely relieved of such nightmarish scenarios, and are permitted by a Higher Power to live and love and enter into a new life.
The Big Book does not require a "belief", nor does it require that for recovery, that the alcoholic brow beat himself, punish himself, 'swear-off' or take an oath, or rely upon other people or human power, and neither does the Big Book demand affiliation with any organized religion, political view, ideology or organization. It is about a human malady for which there is not, nor ever has been, a cure. RECOVERY is distinct from notions of "cure". It suggests that the alcoholic talk to other alcholics about their common problem with alcohol.
The Big Book points out the difficulty with alcohol for women, who sometimes pass into oblivion, drinking alone, in silence, long before their family and friends realize that there was an alcohol problem, because they drank alone in some apartment.
The Big Book is about what you "do". What you do, is address Ego-centered living by using Twelve Steps that enable the alcoholic to find hope, serenity, and a sense of meaning to it all, where no other way seems to exist. We felt hopeless, and bereft of all sense of power, and ended up finding a Power by which we can live.
[The program of recovery does not belong, I might add, to any individual, or organization. In observation of which, I will add, that the program of recovery is a gift, and that no power on earth, neither man, nor institution, nor nation, nor any thing, can separate us from Sobriety, if it is the will of that Power to give us the gift. Neither disapproval, nor enmity, nor human ignorance, nor public ridicule, can come between us and the gift of Sobriety, nor from the Power who gives it.]
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Summary: Essential Reading for those on "the path"
Review: For over 60 years, AA's "Big Book" has brought comfort and hope to millions looking for a way through the fire of alcoholic addiction. The reprint of the "First Edition" (the book is now in it's Fourth) allows a look at the origin of the program, as well as an opportunity to assess the changes that have occurred in the last 60 years.
The first 164 pages remain unchanged, as well as the inclusion of certain stories (Dr. Bob's Nightmare, among others). The first edition contains stories of "lower bottom" drunks than the more recent editions, but also makes clear that the foundation of the program, primarily untweaked since the founding, represents a true course of recovery for the interested.
No matter which edition of the book you own, reading the 1st edition gives a great perspective, from both a historical and a spiritual angle, of what arose from that first meeting of Bill W. and Dr. Bob.
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Summary: RECOVERY
Review: For over 60 years, AA's "Big Book" has brought comfort and hope to millions looking for a way through the fire of alcoholic addiction. The reprint of the "First Edition" (the book is now in it's Fourth) allows a look at the origin of the program, as well as an opportunity to assess the changes that have occurred in the last 60 years.
The first 164 pages remain unchanged, as well as the inclusion of certain stories (Dr. Bob's Nightmare, among others). The first edition contains stories of "lower bottom" drunks than the more recent editions, but also makes clear that the foundation of the program, primarily untweaked since the founding, represents a true course of recovery for the interested.
No matter which edition of the book you own, reading the 1st edition gives a great perspective, from both a historical and a spiritual angle, of what arose from that first meeting of Bill W. and Dr. Bob.
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Summary: Life is a journey not a destination
Review: This book laid the ground work for a program of recovery that now serves over 2 million people world wide. This wonderful organization continues to grow and this book allows to you see how it all began at an affordable price and not at the collectors markup of thousands of dollars in some cases. I originally purchased this book because of a reference someone made to it. Its nice to be able to pick the book off the book shelf and find something someone refers to in the First Edition. One of my now favorites is the shortest story ever to be printed in the Big Book and it's only in the First Edition. Buy it and find out what it is (see page 252).
Rating:
Summary: RECOVERY
Review: TITLE ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS AUTHOR Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York City PUBLISHER A.A. World Services, Inc. Printed In the United States Of America COPYRIGHT Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 76-4029 Sixteen printings from 1955-1974
Third Edition, New and Revised, 1976
Sixty-fourth printing 1999
Large-print edition 1990
Seventeenth printing 1999 This is the third edition of the book "Alcoholics Anonymous". The first edition appeared in April 1939, and in the following sixteen years, more than 300,000 copies went into circulation. The second edition, published in 1955, reached a total of more than 1,150,000 copies. Because this book has become the basic text for our Society, and has helped such large members of alcoholic men and women to recovery, there exists a sentiment against any radical changes being made in it. Therefore, the first portion of this volume, describing the A.A. recovery program, has been left untouched in the course of revisions made for both the second, and the third editions.
The section called "The Doctor's Opinion" has been kept intact just as it was originally written in 1939 by the late Dr.William D. SilkWorth, our Society's great medical benefactor. The second edition added the appendices, the Twelve Traditions, and the directions for getting in touch with A.A. But the chief change was in the section of personal stories, which was expanded to reflect the fellowship's growth. "Bill's Story", "Doctor Bob's Nightmare", and one other personal history from the first edition were retained intact; three were edited and one of these was retitled; new versions of two stories were written, with new titles; thirty completely new stories were added; and the story section was divided into three parts, under the same headings that are used now. In this third edition, Part 1 ("Pioneers of A.A.") stands unchanged. Nine of the stories in Part 11 ("they stopped in time") are carried over from the second edition; eight new stories have been added. In Part 111 ("They Lost Nearly All"), eight stories have been retained; five are new. All changes made over the years in the Big Book (A.A. Member's fond nickname for this volume) have had the same purpose:
To represent the current membership of Alcoholics Anonymous more accurately, and there by to reach more alcoholics. If you have a drinking problem, we hope that you may pause in reading one of the forty-four personal stories and think: "Yes, that happened to me", or, more important, "Yes, I've felt like that", or, most important, "Yes, I believe this program can work for me, too". Sixteen years have elapsed since 1939 (the original foreword) our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics. Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man/women who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order.
But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with him is right, and great events will come to pass for you, and countless others. This is the great fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you under-stand God, admit your faults to him, and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the fellowship of the spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you, and keep you-until then. I would like to add that this book, the fellowship of A.A., and my "Higher Power", has saved my life from destruction..... The first 164 pages are the heart of recovery, while the rest of the book is of stories that have really happened to other members. I know this might be a long review, but believe me the program has saved millions from institutions, prisons and death. Alcoholism is a disease, and it has no prejudice at all, it doesn't matter what color you are, what sex you are, or what title, or position you hold. Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers and people from all walks of life. It has torn threw families, and destroyed relationships over and over again. The only way is of complete surrender to a Higher Power, and the fellowship of recovery.....
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Summary: The origianal life saver
Review: To have a reproduction of an orignal text book that has in my opinion "quietly changed the world, one seemingly hopeles person at a time" at such a remarkably low price is phenominal knowing that when I did a search on the internet through several different auction it was rare to find an origianal first edition in good to excelent condition for under $1,000.
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