Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Alcoholics Anonymous (1953), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 192 pages
Description
A classic recovery text, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions outlines the core principles by which AA members recover and by which the AA fellowship functions. In addition, it clarifies each of the Twelve Steps that constitute the AA way of life and each of the Traditions by which AA maintains its unity.
User reviews
LibraryThing member AlexTheHunn
This is a very useful book for anyone in AA. This is not a book on how to sober up. But it is a guide on how to get along, with yourself and with others in your group. Sobering up is roughly akin to re-socializing yourself and learning to play well with others. This book helps.
LibraryThing member OakGrove
Originally published in 1952, this classic book is used by A.A. members and groups around the world. It lays out the principles by which A.A. members recover and by which the fellowship functions. The basic text clarifies the Steps which constitute the A.A. way of life and the Traditions, by which
Show More
A.A. maintains its unity. Show Less
LibraryThing member andyray
the "anonymous" writer of this book is bill wilson, a cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the early years (1935-1945) groups had many "rules," which kept some people out. The traditions are a set of spiritual principles for the Groups, as the Steps are a set of such for the individual. These are
Show More
much more well written essays than the "Big Book," but then, they deal with a more narrowly defined subject. Show Less
LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
This discusses, in detail & order, the 12 steps that a recovering alcoholic/addict must take in order to get their act together. The reasoning behind the steps & traditions are explained. Well worth reading if you are part of any 12 step program. Anyone who isn't would probably be better off
Show More
devoting their time to the Big Book. Show Less
LibraryThing member PJCWLibrary
I use with my AA group every week.
LibraryThing member neverstopreading
Good for step work in any 12 step program.
LibraryThing member smallself
I remember when I first encountered the twelve steps, (e.g. ‘became willing to make amends’), I thought that it didn’t apply to me because I didn’t use alcohol.
*insert pithy saying here, then transition* Recommended.
*insert pithy saying here, then transition* Recommended.
LibraryThing member goosecap
The twelve steps are important for all twelve step groups, but here I just want to touch on a misconception about alcoholism that this book (and another book like it) dispelled for me.
It’s easy to think that alcoholics lack a desire for the higher life. You think that they just want to drink, and
One other thought. AA is the product of the 20th century, in the immediate aftermath of the blowup of the Great War and the consequent reevaluation of all things; it is not, however, any longer the newest trend. New adaptions (like Racists Anonymous) are still forthcoming, but the most ruthlessly trendy today are either non-traditional American or ruthlessly individualistic (or, often in a contradictory way, both). Other traditions can indeed take you to wholeness; the trap is follow them only for the sake of chasing after exotic bling—only as much of the Orient as you can get without leaving LA, or the mall, probably without caring too much about immigrants and foreigners and brown people, or their languages or even their written literature. But I digress. The point is that life is not about me me me really, I find, and not wanting homespun garments and a community is not really a good reason for throwing shade on AA.
It’s easy to think that alcoholics lack a desire for the higher life. You think that they just want to drink, and
Show More
the hell with the rest. It’s an illusion. Most alcoholics are much more trustworthy than they seem when they’re bottomed out, they are disproportionately high functioning, and really it is usually an idealism, a botched, frustrated idealism that that man or woman did not know how to carry, and in the final analysis on pain that they could not abide, pain that was beyond natural strength and magnified by an unusual sensitivity…. Being stupid or average doesn’t make you an alcoholic. I think that as far as we can identify people as limited and average, those people are likely simply not to understand people with unusual problems, not to have them themselves. One other thought. AA is the product of the 20th century, in the immediate aftermath of the blowup of the Great War and the consequent reevaluation of all things; it is not, however, any longer the newest trend. New adaptions (like Racists Anonymous) are still forthcoming, but the most ruthlessly trendy today are either non-traditional American or ruthlessly individualistic (or, often in a contradictory way, both). Other traditions can indeed take you to wholeness; the trap is follow them only for the sake of chasing after exotic bling—only as much of the Orient as you can get without leaving LA, or the mall, probably without caring too much about immigrants and foreigners and brown people, or their languages or even their written literature. But I digress. The point is that life is not about me me me really, I find, and not wanting homespun garments and a community is not really a good reason for throwing shade on AA.
Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1953
Local notes
OCLC = 956
0 local
0 local