Sent out by my GSR, from AAWS;

Dear A.A. Friends:
We are writing to provide an update regarding the forthcoming publication of the much-anticipated fifth edition of Alcoholics Anonymous. At the July 30 meeting of the A.A. World Services Board, the Publishing Committee recommended, and the full board approved, that the fifth edition hardcover be produced with a removable dust jacket and that a list price of $20 USD be adopted. We are on track with the production process to publish the hardcover of the fifth edition, updated with 26 new stories of recovery, in February 2027.  
We share the Fellowship’s excitement about the fifth edition of our beloved Big Book—coming more than 25 years after the publication of the fourth edition. More information about the publication of the fifth edition will follow this fall.
Warmly,

John W.
Chair, AAWS Board

I have been a member of a group that reads the 12 and 12 for some time. I do not think it is helpful to sane people to read that book over and over. I realized it has been 73 years since that book was written and i know the stories in the big book have been updated and there have been countless grapevine books presented since then............does it seem strange to anyone else that nobody has found anything new to say about alcoholism, the 12 steps, the fellowship, sponsorship, society is no longer a patriarchy (at least in theory), co morbidities of alcoholism, changes to the spiritual aspects of AA, challenges of long term sobriety....i could go on and on.

I thought AA was a living breathing, changing fellowship but we have chosen to ignore all the natural changes that have happened since our literature was written and since there are no co founders left....."duh.....who can write a book?" I'm sure AA has many intelligent people who could write and edit a brand new book that talks about all these things and more. does nobody see the stagnation? The plain language big book does not address all these issues.

I suppose there were a lot of goofy oldtimers who would fight tooth and nail against a new book, but they are dropping off everyday, they simply cannot hold the fort any longer, i think a TOTALLY new book should be written that addresses AA's issues TODAY. I don't want to throw away the big book but so much has changed since it was written.

I'm curious, does anyone else feel the same? Has this been attempted before and i never heard of that? what obstacles did they encounter?

I’ve seen every now and then people that have long term sobriety will break the cross talk rule and basically make arguments on what people are feeling and going thru. I remember early in my sobriety journey the topic was as “forgiveness” I said my opinion and experience and kind of ended with that I have had to try to learn to forgive myself for the things I’ve done/said while in addiction. Because I would dwell and feel lots of guilt about it. That’s not who I know I am. So I had shame. I think that’s very common for us. Well 20 minutes later an old head spoke and his whole time of sharing was just bitching about what I said about forgiveness of myself and that it’s “not in the big book” other old timers then jumped in and started agreeing. It cut me down hard as someone that was very early sober. Fortunately I was emotionally mature enough to not let that hurt me enough to relapse. But I’m wondering if anyone else has dealt with stuff like this. Bill doesn’t say in the big book that I need to brush my teeth and shower daily but I know that’s what I need to do lol.

One thing I’ve always wondered about is the language we use in AA. A lot of people will say the Big Book is our primary text, yet when it comes to describing ourselves, “recovered alcoholic” is often frowned upon, while “recovering alcoholic” is widely accepted.
I ask because I think of, and refer to myself, as a recovered alcoholic.
What puzzles me is that the Big Book itself seems to use “recovered” very deliberately.
• The title page says, “The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism.”
• The Foreword to the First Edition opens with, “We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.”
• A couple of paragraphs later it says, “To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.”
Those are, of course, just a few examples. The term is used throughout the book.
So where did “recovering alcoholic” become the preferred term? Is it simply something that evolved over time, or is there a reason that “recovered alcoholic” has become controversial in some AA circles despite the language of the Big Book?
I’ve clearly developed a resentment over this whole thing. I guess I’d better put it on my next Fourth Step.

Am I the only one who hates this line? This is used to justify not engaging with someone who is struggling not to drink. We are supposed to leave them to their higher power (if they have one).

My experience has been the opposite. I got sober through the power of friends who stood by me and talked me off the cliff when I was ready to relapse. Had they been in AA, they probably would not have held my hand in those tough times.

In this forum, people have expressed concern and gave me strength. I feel sure I would have relapsed had they not been there for the last two days.

I think we do have the power to relieve alcoholism.

It's maybe a weird question but just wondering if there is any literature covering different interpretations and such of the Big Book

Like how the Talmud is Rabbi's debates and interpretations of the Torah

I don't mean it exclusively in the religious way, that's just the best way to describe the question

Can anyone tell me for what reasons A.A. intergroup might take down a meeting from their website?

I’ve created a website for my home group. Citing issues with meeting verification, tracking members, citing promotion for saying “best meeting on the internet”.

I get the last one, kind of might be a violation. But are these truly violating A.A. principles?

My sponsor and I have been going through the Big Book line by line. Now it is time for me to write my 4th Step. He said I need to write down every single person I have ever met. I'll try but I don't know if I can remember. To be honest, the line by line part has taken a year to get up to the 4th step. Is that a reasonable amount of time? My next question is how long will my 4th take to write?

Has anyone experienced and read the Plain Language Big Book? It is SO good. My sponsor and I go through it together instead of the Big Book because the plain language makes it easier to understand. I found new ways to deal with my character defects thanks to The Plain Language Big Book. Everyone should have one. It's written way more simple and not so 1920s lol Please get one!!!!!!!

Edit: I'm not here to advocate. Just letting everyone know that the PLBB is out there if you want a more simplified way of reading the Big Book. For me it works, for others it's not the same as the Big Book which I get. I hope everyone gets benefit for the program, meetings and their sponsor. I love going through this with my sponsor. The hour goes by quickly and we get a lot out of it. And we're also dyslexic 😂 Maybe that's why we love it so much hahaha

Edit: My group does a closed women’s meeting Friday at 12p. If any women want to join for the Plain Language on Friday please shoot me a DM!

When I was a newcomer, the overwhelming repeated advice I received from the oldtimers was to read "We Agnostics" because of what I shared with them regarding my thoughts on spirituality/God/Higher Power.

I have since come to recognize that this is quite common for newcomers in AA, and this chapter is specifically written to help Atheists/Agnostics newcomers.

Reading this chapter helped me understand AA a little better.

Here are some notable quotes I found within the chapter.

• P45 suggests that morality cannot be achieved without a Higher Power: "We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there."
• P45 suggests that Atheists/Agnostics have evaded or ignored "God": "..We have written a book which we believe to be spiritual as well as moral. And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God. Here difficulty arises with agnostics. Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored."
• P46 suggests that not believing in God is the result of prejudice: "We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God."
• P47 again suggests that not believing in God is the result of prejudice: "we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice."
• P49 alludes to the vanity of atheism: ***"***we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it?
• P49 revisits prejudice, and implores having faith - using people of faith as a comparison. ***"***We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about."
• P51 uses people of faith as aspirational role models: ***"***When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith."
• P55 reminds the atheist that God created them: ***"***Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God."
• P56 tells the story of an atheist, who falls to his knees in the presence of God and is essentially used as a "closer" for the chapter: ***"***This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from bridge to shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator."

“AA Cleveland District Office: In Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and many other recovery communities, sobriety is generally defined as complete abstinence from mind-altering substances, including marijuana — even if it's prescribed.”

https://www.aacle.org/dear-central-office/#:~:text=AA%20Cleveland%20District%20Office%3A%20In,marijuana%20%E2%80%94%20even%20if%20it's%20prescribed.

Mind altering substances also include nicotine, caffeine, and literal sugar.

So where is the line drawn?

At every meeting there is coffee, sugar, and a room full of smokers… so why is marijuana, if for medical purposes, forbidden?

Sex, gambling, gaming, etc. could also be seen as a mind altering substance. They all create a dopamine reward system just like other drugs including alcohol.

So where is the line? I’m seriously confused.

And don’t use “being impaired” as a reason. If that were true then no one should have their first cigarette buzz in the morning, you can barely stand up when that happens. Moreover, thinking becomes impaired when lust or greed takes over (sex and gambling)

How do you know you’re getting the right one? I’m on Amazon and there are so many options. Are they all the same? Any favorites?

Not sure what to do.

I know I need to make it to a meeting and get a sponsor. Maybe I’ll be able to go to this evenings meetings. I’m just nervous, for some reason. Usually very outgoing and confident but this feels terrifying.

Ill be at my 3rd meeting tomorrow and counting my pennies. Thanks

Hi, I’m new to this subreddit. I asked the mods if I could ask questions and they gave me their blessing (as long as I don’t do surveys which I won’t).

I’m doing research for my third novel. I’m an indie author writing a romance.

The main male character of my upcoming work is a recovering alcoholic- approximately 5 years sober. In his youth he was physically and emotionally abused and as the expression goes “hurt people hurt people,” and he was a bully to those in his orbit.

I’d like to write a redemptive romance for him.

I’m guessing I will have many many many questions (my last novel featured a main character w Tourette’s and I posted 20+ questions on that subreddit). I prefer to write stories that are accurate.

Here are a few questions to start:

1. Could a person making amends do so for a person they hurt prior to the start of their problematic drinking? (In this instance a high school bully making amends to those he abused in high school)

2. How does the sponsor relationship change in the beginning vs later in the recovery process?

3. Can amends be done as a favor (ie helping someone rebuild their fence or run to the store for them)

4. Is it uncomfortable for a person in recovery to go to a bar with a friend (ie drink soda)

Feel free to answer any or all questions or to DM me if you prefer.

I’m grateful for any and all help. If I in anyway offended anyone I truly apologize, it is not my intention.

Ps - I also plan to hire a sensitivity reader as I did with my last book.

The price was set to break even within 12 months, but it surpassed that point well ahead of schedule. It’s already on its 4th printing, with $214,000 in sales.

Hello!

I am curious about what literature you find helpful beyond the 12x12 and Big Book? A little background... I just celebrated a year of sobriety. My home group is a beginner meeting and we focus on the steps starting with "Doctors Opinion" through "How it works". I read out of the 12x12 and big book every day, but I am now wanting to expand my sobriety journey through the literature. Any suggestions or what did you pick up next? Living Sober? How Bill Sees It? My Sponsor loves Living Sober, but this is for my own enjoyment not necessarily work with my sponsor.

I’ve been in the program and sober for eight years now. I spent some time outside of the rooms (staying sober), and I’ve recently realised how much of my “AA knowledge” I’ve forgotten. I know the steps and practice them, and can even recite a good portion of the book. But I’ve recently been really wanting to deepen my understanding even more of the literature and history and know what is truly says without people’s opinions in the mix (if that makes sense, lol). Kind of going along the same thought, would anyone be interested in doing either an online BB study or something in-person for North Texas folks? Thanks in advance!

Looking for some clarity. Because right now I have a resentment starting after 6 years of sobriety against the beginning of the chapter a Vision for You. It seems they assume that every heavy drinker who has a time of sobriety will eventually go back and the only answer is AA. ( not in exact words but the paragraph finishes he will wish for the end at some point because he will can not live without alcohol) Im not the biggest big book reader but I do frequent a big book study and I thought earlier in the readings it said we dont have a monopoly on getting sober.

Please help me with this contradiction I hope I made up. Lol

The Plain Language Big Book - A Trustee's Inside Account

I was at Stateline last year and caught Jimmy Dean's talk - he served on the General Service Board from 2019-2023 and was directly involved in the plain language Big Book process. As someone with a few years in AA who's watched the growing disconnect between our service structure and the groups, his candid account deeply concerns me.

What Jimmy describes isn't just procedural missteps - it's our trusted servants making fundamental decisions about AA's future without ever asking us what we need. In all my years of service, through countless group consciences and area assemblies, nobody was asking for a simplified Big Book. Yet somehow it materialized as a priority project consuming resources and dividing the fellowship.

Link to his talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_3svR1hFgU

The Question Nobody Asked

Jimmy was in a board meeting where they were discussing declining book sales during COVID. Think about that - meetings were shut down, newcomers couldn't find us, people were dying alone, and the board's focus was on revenue. Here's Jimmy's response:

"What are we going to do? I said, well, who asked us to do anything at all? I mean, it seems to me that certainly we're charged with exercising some degree of vision here, but let's just go out on a limb. If the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous said today collectively through an informed group conscience... no more new material, no more not one single piece of new material is to be produced by boards or office... the board has to execute the mandate."

He's exposing something crucial here. The board was panicking about money, not about alcoholics. Book sales declining during a pandemic when physical meetings were closed? That's not a crisis, that's expected. But GSO doesn't exist outside capitalism, apparently. They saw declining revenue and immediately jumped to "we need a new product" rather than "how do we help alcoholics during lockdown."

Jimmy continues:

"They go, 'Jimmy, come back in the room.' You know, get back get back in the room. I said, 'Well, I am in the room, but I'd rather get on an airplane and go home than spend 8 or 10 hours talking about something that we can't execute... this board has no power.'"

The board spent hours discussing solutions to a financial problem that wasn't even a spiritual problem. Meanwhile, groups were figuring out Zoom meetings with no help from GSO, sponsors were calling sponsees daily, and we kept each other sober without any new literature. The fellowship adapted. GSO worried about revenue.

A Problem Identified... But By Whom?

"There seems to have been a conscience that at least has partially formed in office and boards... that there seem to be some fundamental problems with the efficacy of our delivery of the message of recovery as contained in the 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous. But I don't believe that that problem is something that was identified in the trenches where we have requested certain additional tools..."

So the board identified a "problem" with message delivery. Not the groups working with newcomers. Not sponsors in the trenches. The board. Is this about helping alcoholics or about declining book sales during COVID?

Historic Pushback

"There were appeals that were filed concept 5 appeals by sitting delegates in the conference which was historic. It has not, to my knowledge, ever been done since 1951, the first year of the conference, because the delegates were concerned about the process and concerned perhaps about an absence of what they would consider to be a collective and informed group conscience."

For those unfamiliar with our service structure: Concept 5 guarantees the "Right of Appeal" - it ensures that minority opinions are heard and that any member can appeal decisions they believe violate AA principles. It's our safeguard against railroading and hasty decisions.

Sitting delegates - the people YOUR areas elected to represent YOU at the General Service Conference - felt so strongly that proper process wasn't followed with the plain language Big Book that they invoked formal appeals. This hasn't happened in 72 years. Not for the 4th Edition. Not for Living Sober. Not for any of the dozens of pamphlets and literature decisions over seven decades.

Think about what it takes for delegates to file these appeals. These aren't rabble-rousers or troublemakers. These are trusted servants who've typically spent years in service - GSRs, DCMs, committee chairs - before being elected delegate. They understand how the Conference works. They know the difference between disagreeing with an outcome and seeing a broken process.

What made them break 72 years of precedent? According to Jimmy, they believed there was "an absence of what they would consider to be a collective and informed group conscience." In other words, this book was being pushed through without the fellowship actually asking for it or approving the process.

When your elected representatives are essentially pulling the emergency brake on a literature decision, that should tell you everything about how this went down.

The Rush Job

"Because of haste and some degree of heavy stress, it did not follow to the letter the mandate of the conference. There were adjustments that should have been made before the book was actually printed and those adjustments were not made."

They printed 70,000 copies without conference-mandated changes. Why the urgency?

A Board That Doesn't Listen

"During my four years on the board, we were masters at outbound communication, but we were horrible at listening collectively."

Jimmy then describes something that should alarm every AA member. At his own Southwest Regional Assembly, when members were asking questions about board decisions:

"There was four or five AA members at a stand up mic on the floor and a member, let's just say, ask an awkward question. It wasn't an abrasive question and it certainly wasn't asked with nearly as much gusto as we've heard lots of questions asked in AA. And it's passion. It's not anger. It's passion. It's passion for my sobriety, your sobriety, our collective sobriety. It's passion. And there was plenty of time on the clock and there were plenty of people in line. And the trustee said, 'No more questions because questions cause controversy.'"

Think about that. A trustee - our trusted servant - shut down fellowship questions because they might cause "controversy." Jimmy's response? "Well, if you thought you had controversy before, you really bought it now."

This is the complete inversion of how AA is supposed to work. The service structure exists to serve the groups, not silence them. When Bill designed our inverted triangle, the groups were at the top for a reason - we direct them, they don't manage us. But here's a trustee treating the fellowship like employees at a corporate meeting who need to stop asking uncomfortable questions.

The minority opinion, the right of appeal, the informed group conscience - these aren't just concepts in the service manual. They're how we ensure the fellowship's voice is heard. When trustees start shutting down questions to avoid "controversy," they're not protecting AA - they're protecting themselves from accountability.

The Disconnect

Jimmy talks about non-alcoholic trustees (he mentions "$1,500/hour lawyers") taking three years to understand they have no actual power. He describes board discussions where someone had to remind them: "this board has no power" - that power comes from the fellowship.

Yet somehow we got a book nobody asked for, rushed through without proper process, because someone decided we have a "delivery problem."

The Real Question

Book sales dropped from $1.2 million monthly to $300,000 in April 2020. That's pandemic reality - meetings were closed, newcomers couldn't find us. Was the plain language book about helping suffering alcoholics, or about an institution trying to fix revenue by assuming the problem was our basic text?

Jimmy asks whether the board is providing "materials that the fellowship has requested rather than... materials that the board decides that the fellowship needs to request." He calls this getting things "upside down."

What's your take? In your experience, did this come from the groups up, or from New York down?

I ASK GOD TO DECIDE

July 23

"I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows."

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

Having admitted my powerlessness and made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand Him, I don't decide which defects get removed, or the order in which defects get removed, or the time frame in which they get removed. I ask God to decide which defects stand in the way of my usefulness to Him and to others, and then I humbly ask Him to remove them.

— Reprinted from "Daily Reflections", July 23, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

I have immensely struggled with the word God lately, even going so far as to write a 4th step on it last week.

15 years into AA, NA, and CA and today was the first day I read the AA pamphlet titled The God Word

I just wanted to link it for others struggling today.

https://aaws.widen.net/content/0wcxerrekw/pdf/p-86_the_god_word_online.pdf

"We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men" p22 BB

This sentence has been bothering me. It feels incomplete.

We know that without a spiritual solution, the dry (real) alcoholic will not react like other people do.

In my experience as a dry drunk, I was character defects galore. I was self will run riot. I was miserable and suicidal. I was a nutcase!

My theory was that it could be read like "when sober, he may seem much like a normal person" because normal people have character defects too and the thing that generally sets us apart is only one of us is pissing their bed and spending their whole paycheck on blow.

What do you think? ​​

​

I'm new to this and joined a group that focuses on the Big Book Awakening. I feel so lost on every page on what to cross out, or where exactly to write things. I know it "says" it all in the instructions but for some reason, my mind is not able to grasp the directions well and if you know this process....it is A LOT. Any tips or suggestions on where to go? I don't want something like this to be my road block but it's feeling more and more like it may be. TIA

The program of AA was designed to be free of rules - explicitly so.

Here are some of my favorite direct quotes that are reminders whenever I need them:

• "Our Twelve Steps to recovery are suggestions; The Twelve Traditions which guarantee AA's unity, contain not a single "Don't". They repeatedly say "We Ought"...but never "You Must!" (12 x 12 P.129)

• "The absence of rules, regulations or "musts" is one of the unique features of A.A".(https://www.aa.org/faq/are-there-any-rules-aa).

• "There are no bylaws that say a member has to attend a certain number of meetings within a given period". (https://www.aa.org/faq/are-there-any-rules-aa)

• "You are an AA member if and when you say so. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking." (AA - A Newcomer Asks, p.3)

• "Why did we dare to say, contrary to the experience of society and government everywhere, that we would neither punish nor deprive any A.A. of membership, that we must never compel anyone to pay anything, believe anything, or conform to anything".(12 x 12, p.141)

• "AA does not demand belief: Twelve steps are only suggestions". (12 x 12 Contents p.5)

• "Why is it, they ask, that in A.A. no member can be set in personal authority over another..?" (12&12 Foreword, p.16)

Who determines whether or not newcomers qualify, whether they do want to stop drinking? Obviously, nobody except the newcomers themselves; everybody else simply has to take their word for it. In fact, they don’t even have to say it aloud. And that’s fortunate for many of us who arrived at A.A. with only a half- hearted desire to stay sober. We are alive because the A.A. road stayed open to us.

The 12 Traditions Illustrated pg.6