Podcasts by Category
85 - APPENDICES I-VI – Second Edition
0:00 / 0:00
1x
- 85 - APPENDICES I-VI – Second Edition
This is the 85th and final episode of the Big Book Podcast. It features the six Appendices and list of AA Publicationsfound at the end of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“, where AA’s share their stories in an interview format. Search for it on Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps. Or listen on https://recoveryinterviews.comWed, 03 Mar 2021 - 25min - 84 - FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE – 2nd Edition
This is the final story in the Second Edition entitled “Freedom From Bondage” and was printed in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Editions of the Big Book. It was written by Wynn L. who joined AA in 1947 at the age of 33. Married and divorced four times before she got sober in AA, Wynn married her fifth husband, George L., shortly after her story appeared in the Big Book. George was a fellow member of AA at the time and the two of them became a popular duo at speaker meetings. Of those meetings, Wynn’s step-daughter, Caroline, was quoted as saying, “My dad was Wynn’s opening act. He couldn’t help but be funny. Then he would defer to Wynn, whose tale was hair-raising.”
Wynn and Jack P. of Los Angeles started more than 80 meetings in hospitals, jails and prisons in Southern California from about 1947 to 1950. Jack P. reports that during this period they were widely criticized by other members of the Fellowship who thought this was not something A.A. should be doing.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“, where AA’s share their stories in an interview format. Search for it on Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps. Or listen on https://recoveryinterviews.comTue, 23 Feb 2021 - 18min - 83 - HE WHO LOSES HIS LIFE – 2nd Edition
This story, printed in the 2nd and 3rd Editions, was penned by Bob R. who sobered up in New York City AA in 1947. The story’s literary flair reflects Bob’s earlier ambitions of becoming a playwright and the depths to which he had descended prior to sobriety. Though not much is known about Bob, he did write a follow-up to his story for a 1967 issue of the Grapevine entitled, “Come On Be Happy, Too”. The article provided an updated perspective of a sober member of AA some 12 years after the original Big Book story. Bob wrote, “I hope I am no less human for being dry, twenty-years-plus dry, in AA. The bad old years, the years of suffocating in the deep morass of alcoholism, are years I could have used to good advantage had I not been trapped by this hideous disease. There were seven or eight years before I found AA - oh, how I could have used those years! But they were not wasted; they stripped me of everything, including self-respect; but they made me ready for the happiness of the last twenty years in AA.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“, where AA’s share their stories in an interview format. Search for it on Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps. Or listen on https://recoveryinterviews.comTue, 16 Feb 2021 - 25min - 82 - THE INDEPENDENT BLONDE – 2nd Edition
Published only in the Second Edition, this is the story of Nancy F., who got sober in New York City in 1945 when she was 39 years old. It is said that Nancy and another young woman, perhaps AA pioneer Marty Mann, were often asked to go to hospitals and drying-out places frequented by the wealthy, because they were younger and "presentable." According to reports at the time, they carried the AA message wearing little black dresses, pearls, and hats with flowers on them. For 15 years, Nancy was also a regular attendee at one of the first "women only" meetings, started by Marty Mann in Midtown Manhatten.
Nancy personified what people can accomplish by staying sober. She went to high school in her fifties and graduated cum laude from college in her late seventies. Her search for spirituality lead her to becoming a Quaker and doing missionary work teaching English to migrant workers. Nancy spoke at the 2000 A.A. International Convention in Minneapolis. She died in April 2005 with 57 years of sobriety.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“, where AA’s share their stories in an interview format. Search for it on Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps. Or listen on https://recoveryinterviews.comThu, 11 Feb 2021 - 14min - 81 - THE CAREER OFFICER – 2nd Edition
This story's author is Sackville M., who got sober in Dublin, Ireland in 1947. Sackville helped reorganize the original Dublin AA meeting in which the secretary and a dozen members got drunk shortly after he joined. Of the three alcoholics from the group who stayed sober, Sackville became secretary and was instrumental in working with the Roman Catholic church to help them better understand alcoholism and generally improve AA’s relationship with the local churches. His AA service group also included editing the Dublin group’s bimonthly newsletter for more than 28 years.
In an October 1968 article in the Grapevine, Sackville reflected on the 21 years since he first entered AA and his rank as an “Old-Timer”. He said, “Old-timers must often be a headache to younger members. But the old-timer who has come to realize, as I hope I have myself, that he is not God's gift to AA, but that AA is God's gift to him, still has something good to give to his group: the demonstration of his continued sobriety, his active membership, and his gratitude for his recovery to - under God - the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.”
This is the 81st episode, story number 9 in Part 3 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. It was printed in the Second and Third Editions.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“.
Post navigationFri, 05 Feb 2021 - 16min - 80 - ANNIE THE COP FIGHTER – 2nd Edition
Annie C. first joined AA in 1947 at the age of 67. One interesting item that shows up in Annie’s story is the reference to a farm in Connecticut where she went for a few days after she had relapsed. This same farm, mentioned in other early stories in the Second Edition of the Big Book, was owned by Sister Francis, who took in addicts and alcoholics, helping those in need of hope.
In 1939, AA co-founder Bill W. came to Sister Francis’ farm with Marty Mann, one of AA’s first female members. They fell in love with High Watch Farm, and sister Francis fell in love with AA. She offered to gift her property to them so they could turn High Watch Farm into a retreat for those seeking recovery. More than 80 years later, High Watch Farm still operates as the world’s first 12-Step treatment center. The debate over the role of Alcoholics Anonymous versus the role of professional treatment can be traced back to the first days of High Watch Farm. It was at that time, AA’s future was set to remain independent from the business of “treatment” for alcoholics. In fact, the 6th tradition continues to address AA’s independence by virtue of not affiliating with nor endorsing of treatment facilities and other outside enterprises.Sat, 30 Jan 2021 - 17min - 79 - DESPERATION DRINKING – 2nd Edition
This is a relatively short story printed in the Second and Third Editions. The author is Pat M., who joined AA and got sober around 1952. Those are the only two additional details uncovered by a deep Google search. The anonymity of the story’s author which provides only the initial of his last name, is obviously not very helpful to a comprehensive search. Nonetheless, the story is quite interesting, and like all others in the Big Book, it will give you a glimpse of Alcoholics Anonymous’ influence on yet another alcoholic during the early years of the Program.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“.Mon, 25 Jan 2021 - 11min - 78 - THERE’S NOTHING THE MATTER WITH ME! – 2nd Edition
Written by Bill G., who got sober in 1945, this story runs the gamut from being a successful business man to literally being a bum on the street, pawning his shoes, living under a bridge, and drinking Sterno. As bottoms go, it's hard to imagine one going much lower.
As graphic and engaging as this story is, it was printed only in the Second Edition of the Big Book, so it has remained largely unseen by those AAs who’ve otherwise been raised on the Third and Fourth Editions.
Not that much is known about Bill, except what’s revealed in his story. However, Bill was recorded in 1989 speaking at the 3rd Annual Tampa Bay Roundup. In an hour-long rendition, he reiterated his entire story from the Big Book. But, he did shed some additional light on his early days in the Program, reminiscing about the first time he was asked to speak when he had 90 days of sobriety. Said Bill of that experience some 45 years earlier: “I had a carefully prepared text in my pocket, some 2000 words, and I got up there in front of those 12-15 people, and (stutter, cough, stammer)…’I’m an alcoholic’, I said and sat down. And the applause was tremendous. I have since found out it was because I was so brief!”
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“.Wed, 20 Jan 2021 - 19min - 77 - THE PRISONER FREED – 2nd Edition
“The Prisoner Freed” was printed only in the Second and Third Editions, so it will be heard for the first time by those who’ve otherwise been raised on the Fourth Editions alone.
As with some stories in the Second Edition, the author of this story is unknown. A deep dive on Google did not reveal the author, though the search terms “prisoner” and “AA” yielded a trove of links to AA’s rich history and association with correctional facilities and the alcoholics within the walls. Perhaps the best description of that association was written in a letter to a prison group by Bill W. in 1949 and later published in the book, “As Bill Sees It”: “Every A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has walled himself out of society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you folks has been even more difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall around you. But there isn’t any really essential difference, a fact that practically all A.A.’s now know. “Therefore, when you members come into the world of A.A. on the outside, you can be sure that no one will care a fig that you have done time. What you are trying to be–not what you were–is all that counts to us.”
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“.Fri, 15 Jan 2021 - 9min - 76 - PROMOTED TO CHRONIC – 2nd Edition
Printed only in the 2nd and 3rd Editions of the Big Book, “Promoted to Chronic” was written by Helen B., who got sober in 1945. After working for the Boston Central Services Office of A.A., Helen became a senior staff member at the New York office in 1949, where she personally helped Bill W. promote the Traditions and the General Service Conference to the Fellowship. She helped organize the first General Service Conference held in April, 1951 and served a secretary to the first two Conferences.
Helen also worked closely with Bill on the booklet called "The Third Legacy." Bill praised her in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age”, saying: "Helen B. of the office staff had a real flair for statesmanship in the best sense of the word, and she understood practical politics too. Her assistance throughout proved invaluable.” As important as the formation of the General Service Conference, and, later, AA World Services, were to the stability and structure of AA, Helen’s sobriety-born service work remain an important contribution to Alcoholics Anonymous to this day.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.’s newest podcast, “AA Recovery Interviews“.Sun, 10 Jan 2021 - 19min - 75 - JIM’S STORY – Second Edition
“Jim’s Story” was written by Dr. Jim S., a physician in Washington D.C., who is credited with founding the first black AA group. While the struggles of starting that group are well-noted in the story, its importance as an AA milestone was recognized by AA co-founder Bill W. in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age”. Dr. Jim gave an address on the final morning of the first AA convention held in Cleveland in 1955.
Here’s what Bill W. had to say about that talk: “"Deep silence fell as Dr. Jim S., the A.A. speaker, told of his life experience and the serious drinking that led to the crises which had brought about his spiritual awakening. He re-enacted for us his own struggle to start the very first group among Negroes, his own people. Aided by a tireless and eager wife, he had turned his home into a combined hospital and A.A. meeting place, free to all. He told how early failure had finally been transformed under God's grace into amazing success, we who listened realized that A.A., not only could cross seas and mountains and boundaries of language and nation but could surmount obstacles of race and creed as well."
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.'s newest podcast, "AA Recovery Interviews".Mon, 04 Jan 2021 - 25min - 74 - OUR SOUTHERN FRIEND – 2nd Edition
This is one of only 5 stories to show up in all 4 Editions. The author is John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo, known to his contemporaries as “Fitz” M. Unlike some of the previous Personal Stories, quite a lot is known about Fitz and his contribution to early AA and the Big Book. Fitz got sober in October 1935, after a visit from Bill W. in Townes Hospital in New York City, and is reputedly the third person whom Bill helped to get sober after he returned to New York from Akron. He was among the earliest AA members who helped Bill make the transition from the Oxford Group to the 12 steps of AA in the late 1930s and was heavily involved in the formative years of the Program.
Interestingly, Fitz originally submitted a much shorter version of this story which he titled “Me and John”, as in John Barleycorn, in 1938. Bill asked him to expand the story. After being renamed, the story, more than twice the length of the original, was published in the First Edition of the Big Book as one of the longest stories in that 1939 Edition. Its most famous passage is Fitz’s revelatory thought “Who are you to say there is no God?” and the falling to his knees to experience hope and a great sense of peace. Just why the First Edition story was pared down for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions is a mystery, but its enduring message still rings true today.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.
Check out Howard L.'s newest podcast, "AA Recovery Interviews".Wed, 30 Dec 2020 - 22min - 73 - JOE’S WOES – 2nd Edition
This 73rd episode begins Part 3, the last part of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. Part 3 is entitled “They Lost Nearly All” and contains the final 12 stories in the Second Edition. Story number 1 in Part 3 is called “Joe’s Woes” and like the last story, was published only in the 2nd Edition.
“Joe’s Woes” was authored by Joe M. who got sober in 1940 in New York City, during the earliest years of AA when Bill W. was visiting alcoholics in the hospital. While not much is known about Joe, except for what is revealed in his Big Book story, and in a 1965 talk he made to the Old Timer’s Panel in Cleveland. One part of the story that was left out of the Big Book concerned Joe’s voluntary commitment to Rockland State Hospital during one of his many stays there. Though he was there to treat his alcoholism, he and his fellow inmates found a way to get drunk all the same. Joe said in his talk, “I got drunk so often in Rockland that they threw me the hell out of Rockland for being a bad example to the other alcoholics!”
As you listen to “Joe’s Woes”, you’ll quickly understand why this story was chosen to lead off this final section of Personal Stories in the Big Book.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Fri, 25 Dec 2020 - 27min - 72 - NEW VISION FOR A SCULPTOR – 2nd Edition
This is a relatively rare story, as it is one of only five stories that was published exclusively in the 2nd Edition. There's also nothing known about the author except what can be gleaned from the story itself: It was written by Fred, who got sober in 1947. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating testimonial of one of the early members who found sobriety in the fellowship during Alcoholics Anonymous' formative years in the mid 1940s.
This is the 72nd episode of the Big Book Podcast. It's story number 12 (the last story) in Part 2 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. The Second Edition is out-of-copyright and in the public domain.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. It will help others find us.Sun, 20 Dec 2020 - 25min - 71 - ME AN ALCOHOLIC? – 2nd Edition
This story is familiar to many, as it was printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions of "Alcoholics Anonymous". Unfortunately, the author of this story is unknown. What little we know about him is from the story itself. He got sober in November 1947 and was still sober past November 1954 when this story was submitted for the Second Edition. But as you listen to it, I think you’ll find its message as fresh today as it was all those years ago.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 15 Dec 2020 - 13min - 70 - STARS DON’T FALL – 2nd Edition
This story was penned by Felicia G. who first came to AA in 1943, but didn’t get sober until 1944. When she first met Bill W. at the AA Foundation office in New York, he turned her over to Marty M., who became her sponsor, and, together with Pricilla P., helped her become known as the 6th woman to get sober in New York AA. As a gifted writer, it was Felicia who collaborated with Marty and Pricilla to start the AA Grapevine. As stories go, Felicia was considered by some as a "high bottom" drunk because she had not lost everything, but things had gotten pretty bad. In an update to her story published in the November 1967 Grapevine, Felicia said when the second edition was published, she was disappointed to learn that her story would be in the section labeled "They Stopped in Time." She thought she had sunk pretty low. Felicia died in 1999, at the age of 92.
This is the 70th episode, story number 10 in Part 2 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. The Second Edition is out-of-copyright and in the public domain.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Thu, 10 Dec 2020 - 35min - 69 - PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF – 2nd Edition
Written by Dr. Earle M. from San Francisco, who got sober in June of 1953, this story was printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions. Earle was a very active member of AA throughout his life, spreading its message of hope to those he touched in his medical practice, as well as countless alcoholics he met during his many world-wide travels. In his first year of sobriety, Earle met Bill W. in New York, became close friends, and frequently visited Bill and Lois at their home, Stepping Stones. Earle referred to Bill as one of his sponsors and is said to have taken his Fifth Step with Bill. Over the years, they discussed Bill’s bouts with depression and their shared interest in spiritual practices and quests for serenity.
In an interview published in the October 1995 edition of The Grapevine, Earle recounted a request that Bill W. made of him prior to Earle’s extended visit to southeast Asia. He quoted Bill as saying, “"Do me a favor. When you get over to Asia, see if you can investigate firsthand, the various religions in Asia. That means Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and Confucianism and ancestral worship and the whole shebang." And he said, "Stay in contact with me and maybe we can find something in those religions. After all, we've taken from William James, we've taken from all the Christian religions. Let's see what these others have."
Dr. Earle M. was sober 49 years when he died in 2003 at the age of 92.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sat, 05 Dec 2020 - 17min - 68 - IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE – 2nd Edition
Printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, the author of this story is said to have been Chet R. from Santa Barbara, California, though just when he wrote it or first came into AA is not known. The only clue uncovered during a Google search points to a recording of Chet made in October 1953 that is part of The Tom Laperriere Collection of Ernest Kurtz and Clarence Snyder recordings held at the Brown University Library in Providence, Rhode Island.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First & Second Editions of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Mon, 30 Nov 2020 - 20min - 67 - THE HOUSEWIFE WHO DRANK AT HOME – 2nd Edition
In this 67th episode, story number 7 in Part 2 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955. It’s entitled “The Housewife Who Drank at Home”” and it was printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions.
Just who wrote this story is not known, though its enduring message has remained an important part of the Big Book since 1955.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Wed, 25 Nov 2020 - 12min - 66 - HIS CONSCIENCE – 2nd Edition
This story was printed only in the Second Editions, so it has remained largely unseen by those AAs who’ve otherwise been raised on the Third and Fourth Editions. As with the last story, the author of this story is unknown. A deep dive into AA history indicates little about this author, except the fact that he was a Canadian man who got sober in the middle to late 1940’s. But like many other anonymous stories, the obscurity of the author does not diminish the impact of his testimony. As you listen to it, perhaps for the first time, I think you’ll find many similarities to contemporary AA stories.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Fri, 20 Nov 2020 - 18min - 65 - UNTO THE SECOND GENERATION – 2nd Edition
Unlike many stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book, the author of this story is unknown. We know from the story that he got sober in 1950 and was still sober four years later when he wrote the story for the Second Edition. Whether his ultimate obscurity was intentional or not, the story itself still resonates in the annals of AA history with familiar strains for all who hear it. As it was printed only in the Second and Third Editions, if you’ve never seen it, I hope you enjoy listening to it for the first time.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sun, 15 Nov 2020 - 18min - 64 - A FLOWER OF THE SOUTH – 2nd Edition
This story's author, Esther E., got sober in Texas in 1941 and was inspired to seek help from AA’s relatively new General Service Office in New York after reading Jack Alexander’s seminal article about Alcoholics Anonymous published in the Saturday Evening Post. A week after she wrote to the GSO, she received literature and a referral to a local sober member of AA who could help her. But, as she related in a 1953 speech, it was the personal handwritten letter from Ruth Hock, the non-alcoholic secretary at the General Service Office, that gave her the most hope that AA could work.
In her 19 years of sobriety, until her death in 1960, Esther’s service work helped establish the Houston Group, as well as AA groups in Dallas, Fort Worth, New Orleans, and San Antonio. In 1953, one of her fellow members summed up the importance of her involvement in the Program by saying, “Esther was the catalyst that made AA work…, I don’t think the opportunity exists now for any one person to be as influential in establishing AA as Esther.” Written in the early 1950's, this story was printed only in the Second and Third Editions, so it may be heard as "brand new' by many listeners.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Alcoholics Anonymous and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First & Second Editions. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 10 Nov 2020 - 23min - 63 - THE PROFESSOR AND THE PARADOX – 2nd Edition
This short, but powerful, story was written by John P. and appeared only in the Second Edition, which is why most AA’s have never seen it. John enumerated four paradoxes of the AA program and why they are so important: 1) We surrender to win; 2) We give away to keep; 3) We suffer to get well; and 4) We die to live. He also wrote a poignant update to his Big Book story for the July 1967 issue of the Grapevine. With the perspective of 12 years of sobriety, John said: “…in A.A. we don't just quit drinking. We learn to change our self-centeredness, to stop running away from things we don't like, and to remove or at least adjust our emotional shortcomings. We do these things by taking seriously and honestly our Twelve Steps, the nearest thing to a 'cure' for alcoholism that anybody has yet discovered.” He went on to say, “We learn to do these things not by just memorizing the Steps (though that is a good idea), but by attempting to live and act them each day or our lives. And eventually, often when we least expect it, we discover that as a result of all this we are happy and contented and full of thanksgiving -- something I once knew (or thought I knew) I could never be, without drinking."
"The Professor and the Paradox" is story 3 in part 2 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of the Big Book published in 1955.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Thu, 05 Nov 2020 - 14min - 62 - FEAR OF FEAR
This relatively short story was authored by Ceil M., who got sober in New York City in 1949. As with other authors of Personal Stories in the Big Book who achieved long-term sobriety in AA, Ceil M. provided an update to her story some 18 years after she and her husband, George, first came into the Program. In an article published in the September 1968 issue of the Grapevine, Ceil spoke of the happiness she and George had enjoyed in the intervening years as active members of AA. She said, “Friends ask us why we continue to go to meetings, do Twelfth Step work, and speak at other groups. They ask, ‘Isn't eighteen years enough time to prove you have the alcoholic problem licked?’ My answer,” she said, “is always the same: that I love my AA. It is the one Fellowship that has given us our lives, our freedom, and happiness. We are not reformed drunks -- but informed alcoholics.”
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Fri, 30 Oct 2020 - 12min - 61 - RUM, RADIO AND REBELLION – 2nd Edition
The first of 12 stories in Part 2 of the Big Book presents a compelling case to stop drinking sooner than later and save years of infinite suffering. It was written by Pete W., who got sober in 1945. It was published only in the Second and Third Editions, so it’s likely those who’ve been raised by the Fourth Edition will find it to be a fascinating "new" story. Historically, not much is known about Pete W., but in a speaker tape I found from 1962, I was impressed by his continuous involvement in AA through the 12th Step work he did throughout his sobriety. During the speaker meeting, Pete mentioned his wife, Florence, many times and her ardent support of his efforts to stay sober in AA over their many years of marriage. She is the heart of this captivating story I’m sure you will enjoy.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sun, 25 Oct 2020 - 24min - 60 - THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
Most readers of the Big Book will recognize “The Keys of the Kingdom”, as it was published in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions. Its author, Sylvia K, traveled from Chicago to Akron and Cleveland, Ohio in early 1939, around the time that the Big Book was first published, but not yet widely available. After reading the book and meeting with recovering alcoholics, she was encouraged to return to Chicago to get a group started there. Although she ultimately did not get sober until September 1939, both she and Earl T., whose story, “He Sold Himself Short” was presented in an earlier episode, worked diligently to establish Chicago’s first AA group. Together, they were the two most important founding members of Chicago AA. Sylvia stayed sober until her death in 1974, and held the distinction of being the first woman to achieve long-term sobriety as the direct result of Alcoholics Anonymous. She was a true pioneer in every sense of the word.
"The Keys of the Kingdom" is story 12 in part 1 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of the Big Book published in 1955.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sun, 18 Oct 2020 - 18min - 59 - HOME BREWMEISTER – 2nd Edition
This was one of only five of the original 29 stories in the First Edition to make it into the Second Edition. Its author, Clarence S., got sober in early 1938. Along with a dozen other sober alcoholics from Cleveland, he would make the 40 mile drive to Akron each week to attend the Oxford Group with Dr. Bob and other original members of the Akron group. At the time, a majority of the Cleveland contingent were Catholic. According to Clarence S, when the Roman Catholic Church learned that these men were attending the Protestant-based Oxford Group, it threatened excommunication if they continued to attend.
Clarence informed Dr. Bob and the members of the yet-to-be-named Akron group that Catholics in the Cleveland group would have stop coming, which might result in their drinking. The initial reluctance of the Akron group to sever ties with the Oxford Group quickly created a rift between the Cleveland and Akron groups. As a result of that rift, Clarence and several others put together their own group in Cleveland in May 1939. They named the group "Alcoholics Anonymous" after the title of the newly published Big Book and modeled it upon the 12 Steps therein. Some AA historians consider this to be the very first AA group, not affiliated with the Oxford Group. Along with the Big Book, it soon became the model for groups everywhere. Eventually, the Akron group also split from the Oxford Group to focus solely on AA and become an organization that is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution.
Though it may not be referenced in his story, Clarence’s personal influence on AA’s pillars of inclusiveness and universality, have certainly earned him a place among the great early AA pioneers.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 13 Oct 2020 - 15min - 58 - HE SOLD HIMSELF SHORT – 2nd Edition
Earl T., got sober in 1938 with the help of Dr. Bob and a number of original members of the fledgling Akron group. He then took his newfound sobriety and program knowledge back to his hometown, Chicago. For more than a year, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to put together an AA group. Finally, he was able to attract a few members, but not before he had sent them to Akron to be indoctrinated into the Program by Dr. Bob and others, and then return to Chicago. It seems that Earl did not feel up to the job, or adequate to pass the program onto new members, without the help of Akron’s established AAs.
Nonetheless, Earl’s efforts to spread AA’s message to a major city like Chicago was an important step forward and his would have been a captivating story for the First Edition. However, when calls for stories for the First Edition came out in 1938, Earl refused to write his story for the yet-to-be published Big Book. While the reasons are not entirely clear, some AA historians suggest that there was a mistrustful and somewhat toxic atmosphere in 1938 and '39 surrounding the writing of the Big Book and its use of personal stories among Akron's members.
Earl T. and Bill D. were among a faction concerned that the writing of the Big Book was more about making money for its New York author, Bill W., than anything else and refused to submit stories for the First Edition. It wasn’t until years later, well-after that notion was dispelled and when the Big Book’s true purpose was firmly established, that Earl T. and a few others allowed their stories to be published in the Second Edition for the first time. The fact that Earl T’s story has been included in every edition of the Big Book since, is proof-positive of its timeless message and significant impact.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Thu, 08 Oct 2020 - 19min - 57 - THE MAN WHO MASTERED FEAR – 2nd Edition
“The Man Who Mastered Fear” was printed in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions. It’s actually is an expanded version of a story printed in the First Edition of the Big Book titled “The Fearful One” by Archie T. from Detroit which was less than four pages long. “The Man Who Mastered Fear” was nearly twelve pages in length and written shortly before the publication of the Second Edition when Archie T. had over 16 years of sobriety.
Archie got sober in Akron in 1938 and, as a matter of fact, lived with Dr. Bob and his wife Anne for nearly a year during which he was active in Akron AA. In 1939, Archie returned to Detroit to make amends to those he had harmed and establish AA in that city using the simple model created by Bill W. and Dr. Bob of making contact with doctors, ministers, lawyers, and others to identify alcoholics with whom he could work. Though a struggle at the time, Archie’s efforts eventually resulted in the formation of Detroit’s first AA group in late 1939 and the saving of many lives in the process.
If you go back and listen to the earlier episode of “The Fearful One”, I think you’ll agree that the additional details Archie provided in “The Man Who Mastered Fear” make for a richer and more colorful story everyone can enjoy.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sat, 03 Oct 2020 - 25min - 56 - FROM FARM TO CITY – 2nd Edition
This story was written by Ethel M., one of the first female members of Akron Group 1 that met on Wednesday evenings at King’s School in Akron, Ohio. Though she didn’t get sober until May 1941, along with her husband Russ, by the time the Second Edition was published in 1955, Ethel was widely known as the "longest-sober lady" in the Akron/Cleveland region.
Around the time that Ethel got sober, with the help of many male members of AA, there was noticeable resistance to women joining the men in meetings, much of which was expressed by the wives of those men. The social morays of the era were much harsher on women alcoholics than on men and there was concern about whether men would be able to stay sober with women alcoholics around. Even Dr. Bob initially expressed consternation about allowing female alcoholics into AA, but later capitulated, ironically turning women alcoholics, including Ethel M., over to his wife Anne for indoctrination into the Program. This early grappling with the differences between the sexes (regarding to their experience with alcoholism) paved the way for a Program in which men work with men and women work with women, and yet all work with the common purpose of staying sober and helping other alcoholics achieve sobriety. Ethel M’s story is fine example of this noble purpose.
Despite its historical significance, "From Farm to City" was printed only in the Second and Third Editions of the Big Book. It will be heard as a "new" story by those who've only read stories from the Fourth Edition.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 29 Sep 2020 - 25min - 55 - THE NEWS HAWK – 2nd Edition
This story is actually the edited and re-titled version of the story “Traveler, Editor, Scholar” which was originally published in the First Edition. A sizable portion of the beginning of that story was omitted from the second edition and there were also minor word changes throughout. If you listen to the earlier two-story episode that begins with the story “A Different Slant”, you will hear what was cut out from this story during the editing process for the Second Edition.
The “News Hawk” was written by Jim S., a pioneer member of the Akron Group, who you met in an earlier episode as the ghost writer of at least a dozen stories in the First Edition. In compiling them, Jim provided Bill W. with an ample number of stories from the Akron contingent during the year prior to the publication of the Big Book. Jim’s indispensable work not only helped him stay sober, it was critical to the timely printing of Alcoholics Anonymous. Years later, a reminiscent Lois Wilson complimented Jim’s efforts, saying that the Akron stories in the First Edition were better written than those from New York. Interestingly, despite Jim’s historically significant contribution to the Big Book, his story was omitted from the Fourth Edition.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Wed, 23 Sep 2020 - 19min - 54 - THE VICIOUS CYCLE – Second Edition
This story was penned by Jim B. who got sober in 1938, and was an member of Bill W’s original New York Group that met on Tuesday nights in Brooklyn. It was published in the Second, Third, and Fourth Editions of the Big Book, but not in the First Edition. However, Jim’s involvement in the program during the writing of Alcoholics Anonymous, is sometimes credited with having influenced Bill W’s references to God in the 12 steps. The agnostically-inclined Jim B. and Hank P., one of the earliest members of AA, insisted that the word “God” be less theologically-specific, more general, and less objectionable to agnostics, atheists, and those who had dissenting views toward religion. As a compromise, Bill W. appended the qualifying phrase “as we understood him” to the word God in the 3rd and 11th Steps.
In subsequent years, Jim B. often spoke of having a role in the development of the 12 Steps, by insisting that the phrase be used. Over the years, as stories diverged from memories, Bill W. was sometimes asked about Jim B’s actual influence on the ultimate use of the expression, “God as we understood him". While Bill never attributed the term directly to Jim B. (or Hank P. for that matter), he did acknowledge Jim B’s indirect impact on the Steps by virtue of the agnosticism Jim frequently expressed during discussions in early meetings.
Irrespective of whose recollection is more accurate, it’s clear that the expression “God, as we understood him” was a singularly important addition to the Big Book, keeping the doors of AA open to all, while alienating no one to the idea of a power greater than one’s self.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Fri, 18 Sep 2020 - 24min - 53 - THE EUROPEAN DRINKER – 2nd Edition
This story is one of only a handful of stories from the First Edition of the Big Book that was retained for the Second Edition. It's about Joe D., an original member of the Akron Group, sometimes referred to AA number 5.
As was the case with a number of stories in the First Edition of the Big Book, Bill W. found it surprisingly difficult to obtain written stories from among the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Those that were received often needed major re-writing. So, in 1938 and early 1939, Bill and Dr. Bob asked Jim S., a member of the Akron Group to interview reluctant story-tellers and ghost-write their personal stories. Jim was newspaper man of considerable talent and repute. It is said that his involvement in listening to and then ghost writing the Akron stories, got the job done and helped keep Jim stay sober at the same time. Incidentally, Bill W. later noted that Jim’s ghost writing was responsible for at least a dozen First Edition stories submitted from Akron.
With regard to The European Drinker, Jim sat down with Joe D. to hear a recitation of his story, only to find that Joe was a somewhat reluctant story-teller. Many years later, Jim referred to Joe D., as an example of how difficult it was to drag enough material out of his fellow AAs to create an engaging story for the Big Book. So though this is Joe D’s story, we have Jim S. to thank for its readability.
This story was printed in the First through Third Editions of the Big Book, but not in the Fourth Edition. If you listen to the First Edition version from an earlier episode, and then listen to this version, you’ll notice that the story was significantly edited and shortened for the Second Edition. True to the spirit of the Big Book Podcast, this story is presented exactly as published in the Second Edition.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sat, 12 Sep 2020 - 17min - 52 - WOMEN SUFFER TOO – 2nd Edition
Women Suffer Too was written by Marty M., a founding female member of Alcoholics Anonymous and close friend of Bill W. Marty’s involvement in AA influenced her life of service in which she traveled around the country advocating the importance of treatment and education of the fatal disease of alcoholism. In countless speeches, conferences, and interviews from coast-to-coast, Marty’s tireless efforts, firmly rooted in the principles of AA, confronted the social stigma surrounding alcoholism and encouraged individuals and their families to get treatment. Perhaps more so than anyone else at the time, Marty helped raise social awareness that alcoholism is not a moral weakness but a deadly disease.
As this story was printed in the second, third, and fourth editions of the Big Book, it’s not new to AA members yet its message continues to ring true, especially for women, across the generations.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sun, 06 Sep 2020 - 17min - 51 - HE THOUGHT HE COULD DRINK LIKE A GENTLEMAN – 2nd Edition
One of the more colorful stories from the very earliest days of AA, this story was published in the 2nd and 3rd Editions but omitted from the 4th edition for reasons unknown. If you’ve only read stories in the 4th Edition, you’ll enjoy this “new” story published in 1955. It features many of the original AA members in Akron and northeast Ohio. In fact, the first AA group established in Cleveland met at this author’s house.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents this inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Mon, 31 Aug 2020 - 21min - 50 - HE HAD TO BE SHOWN – 2nd Edition
This is the 50th episode of the Big Book Podcast, and I'd like to thank the thousands of people around the world who have listened to this audio version of the 1st and 2nd editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. We’ve many more episodes to come. I hope you have found listening to the Big Book both enjoyable and meaningful. These free podcasts are done in loving service to the AA program and for all of us.
Story number 2, from part 1 of the stories section, was published in the 2nd edition of the Big Book in 1955. Entitled “He Had to Be Shown”, it features Dr. Bob, among others, helping a fellow alcoholic achieve sobriety in the earliest days of AA. Interestingly, Bill D., whose story was just told in the previous episode “Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three” is shown demonstrating his newly found commitment to staying sober by helping the alcoholic author of this story. Though it wasn’t published in the first edition, this story was printed in the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Big Book, but was omitted from the 4th edition when it was published in 2001, perhaps to make room for other more contemporary stories. If you’ve only read the 4th edition of the Big Book, you’re sure to be delighted to hear this story for the first time.
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 25 Aug 2020 - 31min - 49 - ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS NUMBER THREE – 2nd Edition
“Alcoholics Anonymous Number 3” describes the meeting of Dr. Bob and Bill W. with Bill D., an alcoholic patient Akron City Hospital in late June 1935. With their help, Bill D. got sober and was a pioneer member of Akron Group 1, the first AA group in the world. His story chronicles the very earliest days of the AA movement, only weeks after Bill W. met Dr. Bob and AA’s birth on June 10, 1935. While this powerful story was not published in the first edition, it did secure a permanent place in the second edition of the Big Book when it was published in 1955. It’s been printed in every edition of Alcoholics Anonymous since then and it bares witness to the power of a single idea implemented by two incredibly dedicated men.
By the way, you can listen to these lost stories from the 1st Edition of the Big Book by revisiting earlier episodes of this podcast. Simply scroll down to hear those stories that many members of AA have never seen or heard. They’re fascinating!
Howard L, sober since January 1, 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Thu, 20 Aug 2020 - 21min - 48 - DR. BOB’S NIGHTMARE – 2nd Edition
This 48th episode marks the beginning of the Personal Stories section in the 2nd Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1955.
While the 11 chapters in the first 164 pages of the Big Book preserved AA’s message as it was originally published in the 1st Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1939, the personal stories section in the 2nd Edition was subject to major revisions. Of the 29 stories published in 1939, only three (including Dr. Bob’s Nightmare) were retained intact for the 2nd Edition. One was retitled, three were edited, and two were completely rewritten. The remaining stories were omitted.
By the way, you can listen to these lost stories from the 1st Edition of the Big Book by revisiting earlier episodes of this podcast. Simply scroll down to hear those stories that many members of AA have never seen or heard. They’re fascinating.
In compiling the Personal Stories for the 1955 Big Book, AA co-founder Bill W. sought to better reflect the broad range of ages, religions, races, ethnicities, lifestyles, and occupations that the nearly 150,000 AA members then represented in the Program. In a 1954 letter, written while collecting new stories, Bill spoke of the essential importance of the stories and the need for revision. He said, “The story section of the Big Book is far more important than most of us think. It is our principal means of identifying with the reader outside of A.A.; it is the written equivalent of hearing speakers at an AA meeting; it is our show window of results.”
Bill went on to say, “The main purpose of the revision is to bring the story section up to date, to portray more adequately a cross section of those who have found help—the audience for the book is people who are coming to Alcoholics Anonymous now.”
While the 1st Edition simply labeled the section Personal Stories, Bill restructured the story section into three parts: Pioneers of AA; They Stopped in Time; and They Nearly Lost All. There is a preface of sorts that describes all 3 parts and the stories section in general. Each part has its own brief introduction and every story has a sentence or two prefacing the story itself. And unlike the 1st Edition of the Big Book, in which stories were neither prefaced or numbered, the 2nd Edition numbers each story within each part, except for the first story, Dr. Bob’s Nightmare which curiously is not numbered.
The many structural and editorial changes evident in the 2nd Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous speak to the broad experience and understanding that Bill W. and other contributors to the Big Book gained during the 15 intervening years since its first publication. While contemporary members of AA may find these stories and those from the first edition to be somewhat dated in their tone and style, their impact on the reader or listener is as great as it ever was. In my humble opinion, the message still rings true because these stories were written by alcoholics whose experience provides a legacy of hope for all who embrace the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.Sat, 15 Aug 2020 - 26min - 47 - Chapter 11 – A VISION FOR YOU – 2nd Edition
Bill Wilson wrote the 11th chapter in the fall of 1938, while still wrestling with other chapters of the book. Years later, in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age”, Bill admitted to having been secretly worried during that time about getting the book finished. “I was exhausted,” he said. “On many a day I felt like throwing the book out the window.” Of course, he persevered, and A Vision for You synthesized the substance of previous chapters into an inspiring narrative of the AA’s brief history and the program of recovery. Chapter 11 also encouraged the carrying of the AA message to isolated alcoholics, while providing an ambitious, yet practical plan for AA fellowship and the ultimate formation Alcoholics Anonymous groups around the country.
A large portion of Chapter 11 is devoted to Bill’s historical account of AA’s formation in Akron, Ohio, referenced in other chapters and throughout the stories in the First Edition. It offered a concise model for individuals to use to share their recovery with others and coalesce into mutually supportive groups of recovering alcoholics. During the relatively short period of AA’s actual existence, the collective success of the Akron groups, helping Alcoholics recover, was to become emblematic of the hope, power, and reach of Alcoholics Anonymous in the coming years. In many ways, it speaks to the ultimate brilliance of the Big Book and the timeless impact of its message for millions of alcoholics around the world.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Mon, 10 Aug 2020 - 28min - 46 - Chapter 10 – TO EMPLOYERS – Second Edition
Unlike previous chapters, Chapter 10 was not written entirely by Bill Wilson. In fact, it was penned by Hank Parkhurst, a friend and business associate of Bill’s who got sober in 1935. In the annals of AA history, Hank played an integral role in the early days of the movement, and managed many of the business matters related to AA’s early growth, as well as the financing, publication, and promotion of the Big Book. Hank played such a pivotal role in the early days of AA and while the Big Book was being written, that Bill referred to him as his “right hand man”.
When it came to Chapter 10, aimed at large employers who had active alcoholics in their midst, Bill acknowledged the limits of his own experience in the corporate world, by deferring to Hank’s extensive background in management within major hierarchical corporations, including Standard Oil of New Jersey, where he had 6,600 salesmen under him. Bill realized Hank’s ability to speak to businesses and businessmen about alcoholism and recovery would be invaluable to the embracement and support of AA by corporate America.
It is interesting to note that Hank’s writing style was so different to Bill’s writing style up to that point in the Big Book, that Bill exercised his editorial authority by largely re-writing Hank’s original draft to match the uniformity of style and readability of the first 9 chapters. Bill also provided the opening statement of Chapter 10, introducing Hank (anonymously) as the author.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Wed, 05 Aug 2020 - 29min - 45 - Chapter 9 – THE FAMILY AFTERWARD – Second Edition
With few edits , Chapter 9 was republished in the Second Edition in 1955 as as a powerful and practical guide for families of alcoholics. Originally written by Bill W in the fall of 1938, Chapter 9 describes the dire impact that alcoholism has on family relationships and how those dynamics are affected by the head of the family getting sober.
Though quite hopeful in tone and context, Chapter 9 is a frank discussion of the problems that still face families after sobriety including lingering consequences from past behaviors, persistent economic problems, and dad’s new, but sometimes imposing, spiritual elation that may demand family compliance, what Bill called “spiritual intoxication”.
In his analysis of Chapter 9, Big Book scholar and chronicler, William Schaberg, in his 2019 book, Writing the Big Book, The Creation of AA, summarized the "eight other profound changes the family may face once father has gotten sober. These include:
* Struggles over who now wears the 'family trousers';* Dad’s new outside interests and his resulting absences;* The need to balance alcoholic and non-alcoholic friends;* The possibilities of becoming church members;* The insistence on laughter and enjoying life;* Recovery of bodily health;* The possibility of sexual impotence; and* The need for dad to reclaim his children’s love and respect."
Chapter 9 offers helpful advice, based upon AA experience, for these and other problems.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Fri, 31 Jul 2020 - 28min - 44 - Chapter 8 – TO WIVES – Second Edition
Chapter 8's actual authorship has been widely speculated upon since it was first written in 1938. Many believe that Bill W.’s wife, Lois Wilson, may have written or contributed to the writing of this seminal chapter. Indeed, it might have made sense for her to do so. As she related in her memoirs “Lois Remembers”, published in 1979, during the initial four years of Bill’s sobriety, they “had begun to realize how distorted the relationships in families of alcoholics could be, how important it was for families to understand about alcoholism and to rearrange their own thinking.”
According to Lois, she had expected Bill to ask her to write the Chapter “To Wives”, and perhaps the following one, “The Family Afterward.” But when she shyly suggested it, “he said no; he thought the book, except for the stories, should all be written in the same style.”
“I have never known why he didn’t want me to write about the wives,” Lois remembered, “and it hurt me.” When questioned about it, years after Bill’s death in 1971, Lois admitted it was a subject that still made her mad to think about Bill’s insistence on writing the chapter himself. But back in 1938, Lois said their lives were so full, she didn’t have time to think about it much.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sat, 25 Jul 2020 - 34min - 43 - Chapter 7 – WORKING WITH OTHERS – 2nd Edition
Chapter 7, entitled Working With Others, from the 2nd edition of Alcoholics Anonymous was originally published in 1955. Again, few changes were made to this chapter between the first and second editions, but its powerful message of “You can’t keep it if don’t give it away” resounds in the practical instructions presented in this chapter for helping others achieve sobriety. Indeed to this day, solid members of AA recognize the vital importance of working with others in order to stay sober themselves, whether or not the people they work with maintain sobriety.
Bill W. realized this fact early in his own sobriety. In a Grapevine article from 1958 he wrote, “In the first six months of my own sobriety, I worked hard with many alcoholics. Not a one responded. Yet this work kept me sober. It wasn’t a question of those alcoholics giving me anything. My stability came out of trying to give, not out of demanding that I receive.”
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Sun, 19 Jul 2020 - 30min - 42 - Chapter 6 – INTO ACTION – Second Edition
With few changes from the First Edition, Chapter 6 remains a powerful guide for working the 5th through 11th steps of the AA Program. Interestingly, the 6th and 7th step were treated to only two paragraphs in the Big Book on page 76. Given the number of pages or chapters that other steps were allotted in the Big Book, the reasons for the relative brevity of steps 6 and 7 has been a been a popular topic of conversation and study among AA members over the years.
But, while these two concise paragraphs from the first edition remained intact for the 2nd and subsequent editions, discussion of the 6th and 7th steps was greatly enlarged upon in the book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions published in 1953. The "12 and 12" as it is often called, devoted an entire chapter to each of the twelve steps, and the book itself was described by Bill W. as “strictly a textbook which explains AA’s twenty four basic principles, and their application, in detail and with great care…” “In general,” he said, “…the book deepened the meaning of our Twelve Steps as they can be applied to the individual’s problem of daily living.” Members of AA have found the 12 and 12 to be an indispensable companion to the Big Book itself.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Tue, 14 Jul 2020 - 35min - 41 - Chapter 5 – HOW IT WORKS – Second Edition
Chapter 5 is so important to Alcoholics Anonymous, that the first three pages of "How It Works" are commonly read at the beginning of many AA meetings. The chapter clearly lays out the 12 steps in the suggested program of recovery upon which AA is based.
A major change from the First Edition was one word in the first part of the 12th step. Originally it began, “Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps…”. In the Second Edition, it reads “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…” What spurred the change at the time, was the feeling that the word experience characterized a sudden, profound, and sweeping spiritual activation, like what happened to AA’s co-founder in the hospital, previously described in Chapter 1, Bill’s Story.
Bill W. was quoted as saying that roughly 10% enter AA on the strength of such an experience, while the remaining 90% who stay dry achieve the same result by developing slowly and much more gradually the spiritual side of their nature through following the various steps in the Program. He acknowledged that the speed with which this spiritual awakening takes place is no criterion of either depth or permanence of cure.
For those of us whose lives have been saved by the Program, it’s doubtful that we could have ever gotten sober, into A.A., and through the first 11 steps without some kind of Higher Power at work. The awakening, therefore, seems to refer to our own consciousness roused to the ever-presence of that Higher Power as demonstrated through the spiritual basis of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Also join our facebook group, Big Book Podcast Listeners, where you can share your thoughts and experiences with fellow listeners.Thu, 09 Jul 2020 - 28min - 40 - Chapter 4 – WE AGNOSTICS – Second Edition
With few changes from the First Edition, Chapter 4's main objective is to enable readers to find a Power greater than themselves that would solve their problem. Though Chapter 4 was originally written to describe that Power in spiritual and moral terms, without hesitancy to talk about God, it also steered AA's discussion of spirituality away from specific religious or theological doctrines. Agnostics and atheists among AA members at that time were consulted during the writing of the Big Book and their influence was reflected in Chapter 4. Bill W. wrote of the importance of that influence in the book Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age published in 1957. He wrote, “Our group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and effective book possible. Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.” Chapter 4 in the Second Edition also referenced the newly added Appendix 2 entitled "Spiritual Experience" that clarified the nature and variety of spiritual experiences, as well as when and how they can occur. Appendix 2 will be read in a later episode.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of the Big Book and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Sat, 04 Jul 2020 - 28min - 39 - Chapter 3 – MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM – Second Edition
Though few changes were made to Chapter 3 in the Second Edition published in 1955, there’s an interesting and notable asterisk at the end of a few sentences on the top of page 34 in the print version. Those two sentences, which remained unchanged from the First Edition, read, “We, who are familiar with the symptoms see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it! (exclamation point)." The asterisk refers the reader to the following footnote: “True when this book was first published. Today AA has many young members.” The footnote in the Third Edition points to a survey that showed 1/5 of US/Canada membership were people age 30 and under. The Fourth Edition footnote references a survey that indicated 11% of AAs being 30 and under. Regardless of how the differences in membership numbers between the Third and Fourth Editions are interpreted, it seems clear that by not changing the two sentences for the Second Edition, the footnote will likely show up in future editions of Alcoholics Anonymous as a way to clarify young people's membership in the program.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 30 Jun 2020 - 29min - 38 - Chapter 2 -THERE IS A SOLUTION – Second Edition
A significant change was made to Chapter 2 when the Second Edition was printed in 1955. The First Edition referred to a “celebrated physician” who treated the American businessman, (later known as Rowland H). The Second Edition named that doctor as the world-famous psychoanalyst Dr. Carl Jung, who prescribed for Rowland in Zurich in the early 1930’s. As recounted on page 26, Dr. Jung told Rowland that his alcoholism was incurable by psychoanalysis and that the only thing that might help was a spiritual experience. That suggestion, along with membership in the Oxford Group, lifted Rowland’s compulsion to drink and later helped him bring Ebby T. to sobriety. Ebby, in turn, helped sober-up Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA. In a 1961 letter of gratitude to Dr. Jung, Bill acknowledged that Rowand’s conversation with Dr. Jung was “the first link in the chain of events that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.”
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 23 Jun 2020 - 25min - 37 - Chapter 1 – BILL’S STORY – Second Edition
The amazing story of AA's co-founder, Bill W., continues to inspire and guide Alcoholics Anonymous more than 85 years after its founding and 49 years after Bill's death in 1971. Bill’s Story, Chapter 1 in the 2nd Edition of the Big Book published in 1955, was left largely intact from the 1st Edition in 1939. The story itself had relatively few changes, a word here, a sentence there. But by the time the Second Edition was published, Bill’s Story had appeared in more than 300,000 copies of the 1st Edition, while AA membership had mushroomed from 100 to over 725,000. And though Bill’s Story had already become legendary by 1955, his timeless message of experience, strength and hope retained its power and impact through the 3rd and 4th editions, and to the present day.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters and stories in the First Edition of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.
Thu, 18 Jun 2020 - 30min - 36 - THE DOCTOR’S OPINION – SECOND EDITION
Dr. William D. Silkworth was referred to as “our great medical benefactor” by the founders of A.A. His initial letter of endorsement and follow-up statement of support became a permanent part of the Big Book starting with the First Edition. Dr. Silkworth expressed "a sense of real satisfaction when I was asked to contribute a few words on a subject which is covered in such masterly detail in these pages." The Doctor's Opinion occupied its own section in the First Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, and remained unchanged in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions. But, the page numbering is significantly different. In the First Edition, The Doctor’s Opinion is page 1 and Bill’s Story starts on page 10. In the Second and subsequent editions, The Doctor’s Opinion was paginated using roman numerals, while Bill’s Story began Chapter One, page 1 of the Big Book. Thus, the first 164 pages that are, to this day, referred to and considered as the main section of the Big Book, commenced with the 2nd Edition published in 1955.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Sun, 14 Jun 2020 - 16min - 35 - PREFACE & FORWARD TO SECOND EDITION
Episode 35 begins the cover-to-cover reading of the 2nd edition of Alcoholics Anonymous, originally published in 1955. It’s comprised of a preface, 2 forwards, the Doctor’s Opinion, 11 chapters in the main text, 37 Personal Stories, and 6 appendices at the end of the book. In an effort to present a flawless audio version of the 2nd edition, these episodes will reflect all of the changes that were made to the first 164 pages, which, incidentally, remained untouched in the 3rd and 4th editions. Though most revisions were minor, a word here, a sentence there, none of them affected the context of the AA program of recovery presented in the 2nd edition. As for the 37 Personal Stories, 30 of them were new stories added to the 2nd edition. Over 110,000 words of new material. If you’ve never read the 2nd edition, the stories, or case histories as they were often called, will be brand new to you.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Thu, 11 Jun 2020 - 18min - 34 - THE ROLLING STONE, LONE ENDEAVOR, & APPENDIX
The final two stories from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. The 28th and 29th stories were printed only in first edition of the Big Book and are entitled “The Rolling Stone and “Lone Endeavor”. Of particular interest, “Lone Endeavor” contains a letter from Alcoholics Anonymous received by the author of the story. In it, the early AA founders acknowledged that “…this is the first time we have had an opportunity of trying to help an alcoholic at long distance.” It’s interesting that this story, like many others, was left out of the 2nd and subsequent editions of Alcoholics Anonymous, though they are no less powerful than other stories. For listeners who’ve never seen them, these stories will sound brand new. After these stories, the Big Book is concluded by the one Appendix at the end of the book.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 02 Jun 2020 - 22min - 33 - ON HIS WAY, AN ALCOHOLIC’S WIFE, & AN ARTIST’S CONCEPT
The 25th, 26th, & 27th stories from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. These stories were printed only in first edition of the Big Book. Of special note, “An Alcoholic’s Wife” is the only story in the first edition written by the non-alcoholic spouse of a man who got sober through the help of AA. This story, along with the chapters “To Wives” and The Family Afterward” may have helped cultivate the later establishment of Al-Anon. Also, the author of “An Artist’s Concept” prefaced his story with a quote attributed to the 19th century British philosopher Herbert Spencer about contempt prior to investigation. It’s interesting that, although this story never made it past the first edition of the Big Book, the Spencer quote became a permanent part of the second Appendix, entitled “Spiritual Experience”, that appears in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th editions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Howard L, sober since January 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Mon, 25 May 2020 - 21min - 32 - THE CAR SMASHER & HINDSIGHT
The 23rd and 24th stories appeared only in the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. These lost gems, entitled “The Car Smasher” and “Hindsight”, highlight the cunning, baffling, and powerful aspects of alcoholism that linger even during periods of sobriety. And the slips they can cause when complacency, overconfidence, or self-will take the place of action, humility, and the will of a power greater than ourselves. These stories also demonstrate the critical link between helping other alcoholics and maintaining sobriety upon which the AA founders established our Program of recovery.
Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Mon, 18 May 2020 - 20min - 31 - THREE STORIES: A CLOSE SHAVE, EDUCATED AGNOSTIC, & ANOTHER PRODIGAL STORY
From the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939, these three stories, which appeared only in the first edition of the Big Book, reveal the universal experience of alcoholics marked by the inability to control their drinking. And the descent into a hopeless state of mind, body, and spirit from which they got sober, thanks to the experience, strength, and hope so freely given them by other recovering alcoholics.
Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Wed, 13 May 2020 - 24min - 30 - SMILE WITH ME, AT ME
The 19th story from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. This story, which appeared only in the first edition of the Big Book, provides a glimpse of life in the early 20th century when world war, prohibition, and the great depression affected the lives of those alcoholics who had yet to be relieved of their disease by the efforts of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, who founded Alcoholics Anonymous in mid-1935. For those who suffered, AA and the Big Book could not have come at a more critical time.
Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 05 May 2020 - 16min - 29 - THE FEARFUL ONE & TRUTH FREED ME
A double story episode: The 17th and 18th stories from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. The 17th entitled “The Fearful One”and the 18th “Truth Freed Me”. These two short stories appeared only in the first edition of the Big Book, so this may be the first time you hear them. Both stories paint an extraordinary picture of AA in the first few years after Bill W. and Dr. Bob met, well-before the Big Book was written. They recount the critical role of early AA members who carried the message of recovery to suffering alcoholics who wanted to get sober.
Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Mon, 27 Apr 2020 - 14min - 28 - FIRED AGAIN
Here is the 16 story in the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. Entitled “Fired Again”, it was printed only in the first edition of the Big Book. It’s another one of those stories you may be hearing for the first time. In it, Dr. Bob and some of the original members of early AA are directly involved in helping another man get sober. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 21 Apr 2020 - 13min - 27 - THE SALESMAN
The 15th story from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939. Entitled “The Salesman”, it was printed only in the first edition of the Big Book. It’s one of those stories that listeners may be hearing for the first time that prominently feature AA co-founder Dr. Bob S. and other early members of AA personally helping another alcoholic achieve sobriety. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Tue, 14 Apr 2020 - 14min - 26 - RIDING THE RODS
The 14th story from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous is entitled “Riding the Rods.” Because it was printed only in the first edition of the Big Book in 1939, it's a "new" story to those who've never seen it. This captivating tale offers a a glimpse of life in the early 20th century in the years before AA and one man’s struggle to escape the awful depths of alcoholic despair.” Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.Wed, 08 Apr 2020 - 24min - 25 - A WARD OF THE PROBATE COURT
Available only in the First Edition of the Big Book, this relatively short story provides a glimpse of the formative years of AA when old-timers were those with 2 or 3 years sober, but whose perseverance and dedication made possible a solid foundation for the entire AA movement. He wrote, "They were all strangers to me, but treated me as a friend. I was impressed with their interest and fellowship. I learned the secret." Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Wed, 01 Apr 2020 - 12min - 24 - MY WIFE AND I
The 12th story, printed only in the First Edition, gives a rare glimpse of how newly sober alcoholics perceived the spiritual aspects of AA demonstrated by early pioneers of the Program. The author of this story was initially visited by AA co-founder Dr. Bob S. and wrote, "My friend was the human agency employed by an all-wise Father to bring me into a pathway of life." Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Fri, 27 Mar 2020 - 17min - 23 - THE SEVEN MONTH SLIP
This cautionary tale, printed only in the First Edition, describes how easily a year of sobriety can be dashed to pieces. "After a year of learning new ways of living, new attitudes and desires, I became self-confident and then careless. I suppose you would say I got to feeling too sure of myself and Zowie! First it was a beer on Saturday nights and then it was a fine drunk. I knew exactly what I had done to bring myself to this old grief." Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Tue, 24 Mar 2020 - 9min - 22 - HOME BREWMEISTER
The tenth story from the Personal Stories section of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in 1939 was printed only in the first edition. It's a fascinating story that reflects the time during the Prohibition when home brewing of beer was a common and sometimes necessary past-time. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Fri, 20 Mar 2020 - 14min - 21 - THE BACK-SLIDER
Printed only in the First Edition, this story conveys a powerful message about slipping, or back-sliding, that will touch every generation of AA members. After 2 years sober, he started neglecting meetings, fellowship, and daily prayer. "Nothing happened...then came the thought that I could stand on my own feet now...that God might have been all very well for the early days or months of my sobriety, but I didn't need him now...and soon was drinking...." Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story and encourages listeners to revisit earlier podcast episodes that feature the main chapters of the Big Book. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Mon, 16 Mar 2020 - 17min - 20 - A DIFFERENT SLANT and TRAVELER, EDITOR, SCHOLAR
Two stories are presented in this episode: A Different Slant and Traveler, Editor, Scholar. These appeared as the 7th and 8th stories in the Personal Stories section of the First Edition of "Alcoholics Anonymous" in 1939. Neither story made it to the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions of the Big Book. Of particular note, A Different Slant is the shortest story in any of the four editions of the Big Book at just a page-and-a-half long. For those who've never read First Edition, these two stories will be as new to you as they were when first published over 80 years ago. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of these stories, making them come alive with fresh relevance and meaning. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Thu, 12 Mar 2020 - 23min - 19 - A BUSINESS MAN’S RECOVERY
This story was published only in the First Edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” in 1939. As the 6th story in the Personal Stories section, it never made it to the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions of the Big Book. In that way, it will be heard as a "new" story by those who have not seen the First Edition, Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an inspired reading of this story making it come alive with new relevance and meaning. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review.Thu, 05 Mar 2020 - 18min - 18 - OUR SOUTHERN FRIEND
This story appears in all four editions of "Alcoholics Anonymous", but the original version of Our Southern Friend printed in 1939 was considerably longer than subsequent editions. It contains at least 15 additional paragraphs and other verbiage that were edited out of the second edition. This includes three paragraphs that begin the story and three that end it, as well as other changes within. If you have read the story in the third or fourth editions, you will be thrilled to hear these "new" portions of the text as it was originally written. Its impact is as fresh as ever and its message still rings true to this day. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an impassioned reading of Our Southern Friend with fresh meaning and significance, making it as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review!
The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast.Fri, 28 Feb 2020 - 29min - 17 - A FEMININE VICTORY
A Feminine Victory is another story most people have never seen. It was published only in the First Edition of "Alcoholics Anonymous" in 1939. It was the fourth story in the Personal Stories section and the first story written by a woman to appear in the Big Book. Because it wasn't included in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions of the Big Book, A Feminine Victory is a "new" story for many. Howard L, sober since 1988, presents an impassioned reading of this story that infuses it with fresh meaning and significance, making it as relevant today as it was 80 years ago. Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review!Tue, 25 Feb 2020 - 16min - 16 - THE EUROPEAN DRINKER
The European Drinker was published in the First, Second, and Third Editions of "Alcoholics Anonymous" but does not appear in the Fourth Edition. It was the third story in the Personal Stories section of the First Edition of the Big Book printed in 1939. Because it wasn't included in the 4th edition of the Big Book, The European Drinker may be a "new" story for anyone raised on the Fourth Edition, and awesome to hear even if you've seen it before! Howard's impassioned reading dials up fresh meaning and significance, making this story as relevant today as when the Big Book was first printed.
Enjoy listening on our website, BigBookPodcast.com, or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Thu, 20 Feb 2020 - 20min - 15 - THE UNBELIEVER
Published only in the First Edition of the Big Book
The Unbeliever is a story you have likely not seen before. It was published only in the First Edition of "Alcoholics Anonymous" in 1939. It was the second story in the Personal Stories section following The Doctor's Nightmare (also known as Dr. Bob's Nightmare). Because it wasn't included in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th editions of the Big Book, The Unbeliever is a "new" story for most people. Howard's impassioned reading infuses this story with fresh meaning and significance, making it as relevant today as it was 80 years ago.
Enjoy listening on our website
or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute,
please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program. And
be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop
drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Thu, 13 Feb 2020 - 25min - 14 - DOCTOR BOB’S NIGHTMARE
Orignally Titled "The Doctor's Nightmare" in First Edition
The Big Book comes alive with Howard L's inspired reading of the first story in the Personal Stories section of the Big Book, DOCTOR BOB'S NIGHTMARE. Originally titled "The Doctor's Nightmare" in the First Edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous” published in 1939, the title was changed to its now familiar title published in the second and subsequent editions.
Many stories in the First Edition were retained for the Second Edition of the Big Book. However, only the titles were used in the First Edition, while the Second Edition prefaced each story with a brief description. For the purposes of the Big Book Podcast, any First Edition story that appears in the Second Edition will also include the preface.
Enjoy listening on our websiteor download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a rating and review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program. And
be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop
drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book
or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st
and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain)
are used exclusively for this podcast.Mon, 10 Feb 2020 - 22min - 13 - Chapter Eleven – A VISION FOR YOU
The Big Book comes alive with Howard L’s inspired reading of Chapter Eleven, A VISION FOR YOU, the last chapter in the main section of the first edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, originally published in 1939**. Sober since 1988, one-day-at-a-time, Howard’s smooth, yet heart-felt, delivery makes listening easy and enjoyable!
Listen at our website and read-along with the transcription of each chapter. Or download and subscribe to this podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
You can order a reproduction of the first printing of the first edition of the Big Book or other publications directly from AA World Services. For additional information about AA, visit https://aa.org
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program about the Big Book Podcast. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Tue, 04 Feb 2020 - 26min - 12 - Chapter Ten – TO EMPLOYERS
The Big Book comes alive with Howard L's inspired reading of Chapter Ten, TO EMPLOYERS, from the first edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, originally published in 1939**. Sober since 1988, one-day-at-a-time, Howard's smooth, yet heart-felt, delivery makes listening easy and enjoyable!
Listen at our website and read-along with the transcription of each chapter. Or download and subscribe to this podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
You can order a reproduction of the first printing of the first edition of the Big Book or other publications directly from AA World Services. For additional information about AA, visit https://aa.org
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program about the Big Book Podcast. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
** The 1st
and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain)
are used exclusively for this podcast.Mon, 03 Feb 2020 - 27min - 11 - Chapter Nine – THE FAMILY AFTERWARD
Howard L's inspired reading of Chapter Nine, THE FAMILY
AFTERWARD, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, first edition,
originally published in 1939**. Howard's word-for-word reading makes the Big
Book come alive!
Enjoy listening on our website
or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute,
please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program. And
be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop
drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book
or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st
and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain)
are used exclusively for this podcast.Thu, 30 Jan 2020 - 27min - 10 - Chapter Eight – TO WIVES
Howard L's inspired reading of Chapter Eight, TO WIVES, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, first edition, originally published in 1939**. Howard's word-for-word reading makes the Big Book come alive!
Enjoy listening on our website
or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute,
please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell those you sponsor and your friends in the Program. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of "Alcoholics Anonymous" (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Tue, 28 Jan 2020 - 33min - 9 - Chapter Seven – WORKING WITH OTHERS
Howard L's inspired reading of Chapter Seven, WORKING WITH OTHERS, from the first edition of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, the Big Book. This word-for-word audio version makes the Big Book come alive!
Enjoy listening on our website
or download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute,
please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s
online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell your Program friends and people you sponsor to listen. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has a desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book
or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st
and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain)
are used exclusively for this podcast.Thu, 23 Jan 2020 - 29min - 8 - Chapter Six – INTO ACTION
Audio version of Chapter Six, INTO ACTION, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, first edition, originally published in 1939**. Howard L’s inspired word-for-word reading makes the Big Book come alive!
Enjoy listening on our websiteor download and subscribe to the podcast for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And, if you have a minute, please leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click here for Apple’s online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell your friends in the Program. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Tags
Sun, 19 Jan 2020 - 33min - 7 - Chapter Five – HOW IT WORKS
Audio version of Chapter Five, HOW IT WORKS, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous”, first edition, originally published in 1939**. Howard L's inspired word-for-word reading makes the Big Book come alive!
Listen with the podcast player above. Or download and subscribe for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy what you hear, feel free to leave a review!
If you are new to podcasts, click herefor Apple's online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell your friends in the Program. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used exclusively for this podcast.Sun, 12 Jan 2020 - 26min - 6 - Chapter Four – WE AGNOSTICS
An inspiring reading by Howard L. of Chapter Four, WE AGNOSTICS, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous” first published in 1939**.
Listen anytime at our website https://bigbookpodcast.com or download and subscribe for free at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to comment on the podcast, leave a review or contact me at our website!
If you are new to podcasts, click herefor Apple's online guide on how to download, subscribe, and listen to podcasts.
Tell your friends in the Program about the Big Book Podcast. And be sure to share this podcast with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast series.Wed, 08 Jan 2020 - 26min - 5 - Chapter Three – MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
Howard L reads Chapter Three, MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM, from Alcoholics Anonymous, the "Big Book” first published in 1939.
Listen at our website https://bigbookpodcast.com. And be sure to share it with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
Tell your friends in the Program to download, subscribe, and listen to the Big Book Podcast for free.
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast.Sat, 04 Jan 2020 - 27min - 4 - Chapter Two – THERE IS A SOLUTION
Howard L reads Chapter Two, THERE IS A SOLUTION, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous” first published in 1939.
Listen at our website https://bigbookpodcast.com. And be sure to share it with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
Tell your friends in the Program to download, subscribe, and listen to the Big Book Podcast for free.
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast.Mon, 30 Dec 2019 - 24min - 3 - Chapter One – BILL’S STORY
Howard L reads Chapter One, Bill's Story, from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous” first published in 1939.
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
Tell your friends in the Program to download, subscribe, and listen to the Big Book Podcast for free.
Or listen at our website https://bigbookpodcast.com. And be sure to share it with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast.Thu, 26 Dec 2019 - 29min - 2 - The Doctor’s Opinion – “Alcoholics Anonymous”
Howard L reads The Doctor's Opinion from the Big Book of “Alcoholics Anonymous” first published in 1939.
For additional information about AA or to order the Big Book or other publications, please visit https://aa.org
Tell your friends in the Program to download, subscribe, and listen to the Big Book Podcast for free.
Or listen at our website https://bigbookpodcast.com. And be sure to share it with anyone you know who has the desire to stop drinking. It may be the only version of the Big Book they ever hear!
** The 1st and 2nd editions of the Big Book (out-of-copyright and in the public domain) are used for this podcast.Wed, 25 Dec 2019 - 15min - 1 - Forwards to First & Second Editions of “Alcoholics Anonymous”
Howard L reads the Forward to First Edition of the Big Book of "Alcoholics Anonymous" published in 1939, followed by Forward to Second Edition published in 1955. Both editions are in the public domain.Mon, 16 Dec 2019 - 14min
Show More Episodes
5Podcasts similar to Big Book Podcast
- Conversations ABC listen
- Global News Podcast BBC World Service
- El Partidazo de COPE COPE
- Herrera en COPE COPE
- The Dan Bongino Show Cumulus Podcast Network | Dan Bongino
- Es la Mañana de Federico esRadio
- La Noche de Dieter esRadio
- Hondelatte Raconte - Christophe Hondelatte Europe 1
- Affaires sensibles France Inter
- Dateline NBC NBC News
- Más de uno OndaCero
- La Zanzara Radio 24
- L'Heure Du Crime RTL
- El Larguero SER Podcast
- Nadie Sabe Nada SER Podcast
- SER Historia SER Podcast
- Todo Concostrina SER Podcast
- 安住紳一郎の日曜天国 TBS RADIO
- TED Talks Daily TED
- アンガールズのジャンピン[オールナイトニッポンPODCAST] ニッポン放送
- 辛坊治郎 ズーム そこまで言うか! ニッポン放送
- 飯田浩司のOK! Cozy up! Podcast ニッポン放送
- 吳淡如人生實用商學院 吳淡如
- 武田鉄矢・今朝の三枚おろし 文化放送PodcastQR