Key takeaway
Everyone in the rooms has a worn copy and you have never opened one. Alcoholics Anonymous — the Big Book — is A.A.'s basic text, first published in 1939 to show other alcoholics how the first 100 members got sober. The steps are in Chapter 5, How It Works. You can read, listen, or watch it in ASL tonight.
Last updated: Sat Oct 17 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Somebody hands you a heavy blue book and says it will save your life, which is a lot of pressure to put on a library card. You may have tried reading it already and stalled in the second chapter, or you cannot read at all right now because your eyes and your head are not cooperating. Either way, here is the plain version. Alcoholics Anonymous — the Big Book — is the basic text of A.A., first published in 1939, and its purpose was to show other alcoholics how the first 100 people of A.A. got sober. It is now translated into over 70 languages. It is a book about a way out, written by people who took it.
What the book contains
The current book opens with forewords to its editions and The Doctor's Opinion. Then come the chapters every member half-knows by name:
- Bill's Story — the co-founder's own drinking history
- There Is a Solution — how the first members recovered together
- More About Alcoholism — what the illness looks like up close
- We Agnostics — for members who struggle with the God language
- How It Works — where the Twelve Steps are outlined
- Into Action — the working of the steps, ending with the promises
- Working with Others — carrying the message to someone still drinking
- To Wives, The Family Afterward, To Employers, A Vision for You
After the chapters come personal stories in three parts, plus appendices. The stories are a large share of the book, and many members love them most — drinking histories from people in every kind of life. If the first chapters feel like homework, the stories are a legal place to start.
aa.org lists all of it on its Big Book page, with a chapter index you can see at a glance. If a particular chapter keeps coming up in meetings and you want to know what people are referencing, that index is the map.
Where to start — and you are allowed to skip around
Newcomers are usually pointed at a few of the early chapters and How It Works, but there is no required reading plan. A.A. has no clergy, no exams, and no homework you can flunk. Some members begin with Bill's Story because it reads like a story. Some start with the personal stories because they find themselves in them. What a Big Book meeting is explains how a group reads the book together, and if you have heard of the famous Big Book study recordings, the Joe and Charlie page covers what those are.
If reading itself is the wall — dyslexia, exhaustion, withdrawal, eyes that will not track — the book exists in other forms. Audio and ASL versions are on aa.org, and the page on listening when you cannot read is written for exactly that night.
Editions, briefly and honestly
The book was first published in 1939. The current edition's forewords — to the first, second, third, and fourth editions — are included in the book itself, and the personal stories have been refreshed over the years even as the recovery chapters stayed as they were. That matters for one practical reason: if you buy a used copy, the chapter content of the recovery chapters is the same program, while the stories in the back may be from a different set. Nobody in the rooms will grade your edition.
A caution in the other direction: the book is old. It was written in 1939 by men of their time, and some passages read that way. Members argue about it in meetings; that is part of the culture too. You are allowed to find a chapter dated and still use the program.
What the Big Book is not
It is not a medical text, and it is not a prescription. The steps it outlines are on aa.org, and essays discussing them are in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions — both readable online. NIDA describes mutual-help groups like A.A. as peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals and not clinical treatment. NIAAA says that a person who drinks heavily over time and stops suddenly can face life-threatening withdrawal. A chapter cannot keep you safe through detox. If you are shaking, call 911. If you are in a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
If you need treatment, call or text (800) 653-9376. The call is free to you; treatment providers pay for the referral. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and answered in English and Spanish.
Tonight, open it where you like
Go to aa.org and read Chapter 5 if you want the steps, or a personal story if you want company. Read one page. If the words swim, come back to it by ear another night. If you want a paper copy, the A.A. online bookstore sells it — but it is not a gate. The program is in the rooms tonight, and the book will wait for you there.
Additional Resources
Sources cited on this page:
- A.A.: The Big Book
- A.A.: The Twelve Steps
- A.A.: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
- A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting
- A.A.: What are "The Promises"?
- A.A.: Daily Reflections
- NIAAA: Core Resource on Alcohol
- NIDA: Treatment
Common Questions
Why is it called the Big Book?
The book Alcoholics Anonymous is known throughout the fellowship as the Big Book — but the more useful fact is what it is: A.A.'s basic text. It presents the A.A. program for recovery from alcoholism. Its purpose when first published in 1939 was to show other alcoholics how the first 100 people of A.A. got sober, and it is now translated into over 70 languages.
Where are the Twelve Steps in the book?
The steps are outlined in Chapter 5, How It Works. If someone reads from the book at a meeting, it is often a portion of that chapter or of Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism. Essays discussing the steps one by one are in a separate book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which is also readable online.
What are the chapters about?
The opening chapters — Bill's Story, There Is a Solution, More About Alcoholism, We Agnostics — are about the problem and the possibility of recovery. Chapter 5, How It Works, lays out the steps. Chapter 6, Into Action, carries the working of the steps and ends with the passage members call the promises. Chapter 7, Working with Others, is about carrying the message. The remaining chapters address families, employers, and the wider picture, and the second half of the book is personal stories.
Do I have to buy a copy or read it straight through?
No, on both counts. You can read it, listen to it, and watch it in ASL on aa.org, and buy it from the A.A. online bookstore if you want a paper copy. Members read it in different ways — front to back, a chapter at a time in a study meeting, or following whatever a sponsor suggests. There is no approved reading order, and no one checks your progress.
Is the Big Book medical advice?
No. It is the basic text of a peer fellowship, written by members from their own experience, and it is decades old in places. NIDA describes mutual-help groups like A.A. as peer-led rather than clinical treatment. If you have been drinking heavily and stop suddenly, alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening — that is medical care, not reading material. Call 911 if it is an emergency.