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Experience, Strength and Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous
Stories From the First Three Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
423 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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196 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 11, 2016
I won this at my AA group's book raffle last Sunday. Should be good! BTW, my edition is a regular book but the kindle edition is the only one shown, so my progress has to be in %, not pages.
I finally got started last night and the first story is a bit off the charts. It's an attempt at a subjective look at how a recruiting attempt looks from the side of the drying out alcoholic in a hospital. A bit goofy but worth reading. The encounter appears to have taken place very early on in the history of the program. It focuses on the case of a low, low bottom alcoholic and even makes the spurious distinction between low bottom alcohol addict and "heavy drinker." Really? Nowadays AA doesn't bother too much with that sort of trivia. Everyone's story is bit different. It's not about the differences! The recruit seems to have a "God" problem. He thinks that God IS the problem - nope! STOP ARGUING! Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy???
The first few stories are fine but a BIT dated. When AA or OA or any program puts out one of these story books they seem to lean a bit heavily on older stories. Two of these early ones talk about going to speakeasies! NOT relevant ENOUGH these days! The AA Big Book begins with pages of well-meaning narcissist Bill W's story. It's time for that to be either drastically shortened or 86'd entirely and replaced with a general history of AA. A problem with AA is that the old folks are kind of bound to and by "tradition." An AA story book published in 2003 ought to go back no further than the 60's for its stories. Like me, those folks are now in their 60's and 70's. That's far back enough!
After reading a few more stories and checking out the overall structure and content of the book I've decided to put it down and just browse occasionally. ALL of the stories in ththis 2003 book are old - 50-60 years for the newest ones. Why?????? go to the trouble of assembling and publishing this? In my opinion current arrivals at AA are would be better served by a book of more contemporary stories. When I first came to OA(Overeaters Anonymous) their story book had a lot of depression-era stuff in it. A few years ago OA came out with as newer book that moved the emphasis closer to the present. That's the way to go. AA can be a bit of a hidebound organization at times; in love with the past and idolizing it's pioneers.
I finally got started last night and the first story is a bit off the charts. It's an attempt at a subjective look at how a recruiting attempt looks from the side of the drying out alcoholic in a hospital. A bit goofy but worth reading. The encounter appears to have taken place very early on in the history of the program. It focuses on the case of a low, low bottom alcoholic and even makes the spurious distinction between low bottom alcohol addict and "heavy drinker." Really? Nowadays AA doesn't bother too much with that sort of trivia. Everyone's story is bit different. It's not about the differences! The recruit seems to have a "God" problem. He thinks that God IS the problem - nope! STOP ARGUING! Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy???
The first few stories are fine but a BIT dated. When AA or OA or any program puts out one of these story books they seem to lean a bit heavily on older stories. Two of these early ones talk about going to speakeasies! NOT relevant ENOUGH these days! The AA Big Book begins with pages of well-meaning narcissist Bill W's story. It's time for that to be either drastically shortened or 86'd entirely and replaced with a general history of AA. A problem with AA is that the old folks are kind of bound to and by "tradition." An AA story book published in 2003 ought to go back no further than the 60's for its stories. Like me, those folks are now in their 60's and 70's. That's far back enough!
After reading a few more stories and checking out the overall structure and content of the book I've decided to put it down and just browse occasionally. ALL of the stories in ththis 2003 book are old - 50-60 years for the newest ones. Why?????? go to the trouble of assembling and publishing this? In my opinion current arrivals at AA are would be better served by a book of more contemporary stories. When I first came to OA(Overeaters Anonymous) their story book had a lot of depression-era stuff in it. A few years ago OA came out with as newer book that moved the emphasis closer to the present. That's the way to go. AA can be a bit of a hidebound organization at times; in love with the past and idolizing it's pioneers.
May 30, 2017
This collection of stories from past editions was a lot of fun to read. Some of the stories were very funny. It was easy to see why some were dropped. Times have changed. But it was still good to read. My favourite is Every Day Was Washday (I think, I gave the book away). This made a huge impression upon me when I was first starting out and made me laugh all over again.
January 24, 2019
I read a story each day. Better than going to meetings.
February 24, 2008
A valued book. Each time that A.A. World Services has updated the "Big Book", Alcoholics Anonymous, they have had to omit some of the personal narratives in the second section of the book to make room for new ones, in order to keep in touch with social and cultural changes. But each time, some readers have been sorry to see stories that were their personal favorites taken out. This book collects all those omitted stories, so that between this and the current (4th) edition of the Big Book, a reader has every personal story that has appeared in all four editions.
The stories in the back of the book are sometimes called a long distance A.A. meeting - many recovering alcoholics relate that the experience that first gave them hope was hearing others tell stories that so closely resembled their own that they felt someone had been reading their minds. When the first edition was published, the program was still small enough that in most places no meetings existed, so the only chance many people had to hear others' stories was to read the book. Now all the stories are gathered in these two books, and anyone struggling with alcoholism or other compulsions will probably find some stories with which he or she can identify.
The stories in the back of the book are sometimes called a long distance A.A. meeting - many recovering alcoholics relate that the experience that first gave them hope was hearing others tell stories that so closely resembled their own that they felt someone had been reading their minds. When the first edition was published, the program was still small enough that in most places no meetings existed, so the only chance many people had to hear others' stories was to read the book. Now all the stories are gathered in these two books, and anyone struggling with alcoholism or other compulsions will probably find some stories with which he or she can identify.
August 20, 2013
Fascinating stories from the first three editions of Alcoholic's Anonymous.
Although it's obvious why they were eventually deleted from each new edition leading up to the fourth one.
Although it's obvious why they were eventually deleted from each new edition leading up to the fourth one.
July 20, 2018
What I really liked about this book is it includes many great stories not included in future editions. Stories I remembered & I wanted to use as examples but couldn’t find were in this book. Yay!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews