Key takeaway
Many A.A. meetings read a portion of Chapter 5, How It Works, near the start. The Twelve Steps are outlined at the beginning of that chapter. You can listen without performing. You do not have to buy the book tonight. If the language about God makes you flinch, you can still stay in the chair and decide later.
Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
The meeting has barely started and someone is already reading in a voice that sounds sure. People around you murmur a few lines. You do not know them. You are afraid you were supposed to. What you are hearing is usually a portion of Chapter 5 of the Big Book, the chapter called How It Works. Many groups read it at the beginning. You did not fail a class by not knowing that.
If you feel medically wrong, do not sit through literature out of pride. Call 911 for a seizure, trouble breathing, severe confusion, or someone who will not wake up. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. A reading will not treat withdrawal.
What the chapter is doing in the room
A.A. says many meetings begin with a reading from the Big Book, often a portion of Chapter 5 or of Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism. Chapter 5 is where the Twelve Steps are outlined. The group is putting those steps in the air so a new person can hear them, and so the regulars can hear them again. The format belongs to that group. Another meeting may read a tradition, a grapevine story, or almost nothing before the sharing starts.
You are not required to buy the book to be in the room. There are no dues. The steps are on aa.org, including audio and ASL, if you want the words later without a stack of pages. The Big Book page is the fellowship's own door to the text. Do not expect this site to paste the chapter. The point of the reading in the meeting is to hear it with people, not to collect a photocopy.
If you freeze
Pass the book. Say pass. Look at the floor. All of that is allowed. Identifying yourself when the chair asks is not mandatory either. The murmur you heard may be people who have the paragraph memorized. That is familiarity, not a password. You will not be asked to recite it back.
Some lines use God. You can flinch and stay. The steps say as we understood Him, and the door does not require your religion. If a prayer follows, you can be silent. If this particular meeting feels like a church service you cannot use, remember Tradition Four: the group chose this format, and you can try a different group. Tonight, staying through one reading still counts.
If you came to watch someone you love, sit in an open meeting as an observer and let them have the share. Closed meetings are for people who want to stop drinking. Your room, if you need one, is Al-Anon.
After the reading
The chair will move into whatever that group does next: a topic, a speaker, or discussion. People will talk about what drinking did and what they did about it. You can listen. You can leave at the end without staying for the parking-lot talk. Staying is optional and often where someone will tell you they remember their first reading too.
If you want the words in front of you later, ask at the literature table or open the steps on aa.org. Do not hunt a bootleg copy and do not worry about editions tonight. The group is not quizzing you on page numbers. What helps is hearing a room full of people treat those steps as instructions they are actually trying, badly and then better. You can be the quiet one while that happens. Tomorrow you can come back, or you can try a different format: a beginners meeting, a speaker, or a discussion. The reading will probably show up again. It gets less shocking.
Search meetings if you need another one tomorrow, and confirm the listing. The Meeting Guide app is the fellowship's own free list. aa.org is not a meeting finder.
NIDA still sits under the hour. These are peers, not a clinic. If you need detox or a bed, call SAMHSA at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or call or text (800) 653-9376. That site number is a referral line, not the group and not SMART Recovery.
Let the reading finish. You do not have to love it or know it. You have to be in a room where people are telling the truth about drinking, or you have to get medical help if your body is the emergency. Both are real next steps. Only one of them is a chapter.
Additional Resources
Sources cited on this page:
- A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting
- A.A.: The Twelve Steps
- A.A.: The Big Book
- A.A.: Need help with a drinking problem?
- A.A.: The Twelve Traditions
- NIDA: Treatment
- NIAAA Core Resource on Alcohol
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Common Questions
What are they reading when someone says How It Works?
It is Chapter 5 of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book. A.A.'s meetings page says many groups read a portion of that chapter, or of Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, near the beginning. The Twelve Steps are outlined at the start of How It Works. Essays on the steps are in a different book, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. You are hearing a reading the group chose, not a test you studied for.
Do I have to read it out loud if the book comes to me?
You can pass. The newcomer page says you can sit and listen or share, and identifying yourself is not mandatory. If a book is moving around the room and your hands shake, say pass or shake your head. People do it all the time. You are not graded. If you want to follow along later, the steps are also on aa.org, with audio and ASL. You do not have to purchase anything to hear the ideas.
What if I hate the God language in the middle of the reading?
Stay seated if you can. The steps use a Power greater than ourselves and God as we understood Him. The welcome does not depend on your religion. You do not have to say the prayer if one follows the reading. Another meeting may lean on the language differently, because each group sets its format. You can look for that later. Tonight you only have to get through this hour.
Is the reading a rule that I am an alcoholic if I am in the room?
Hearing it does not label you. Closed meetings are for people with a desire to stop drinking, or for members. Open meetings allow observers. The only membership requirement is that desire, not a sentence you repeat. If you are there for someone else, choose an open meeting and do not take over the share. Your own help, if you need it, is Al-Anon, not their inventory.
What if I am too sick to sit through a reading?
Leave and get care. A chapter is not treatment. NIDA says mutual-help groups are peer-led. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when heavy drinking stops suddenly. Call 911 for a seizure, severe confusion, or trouble breathing. Call or text 988 in a mental health crisis. You can hear How It Works on a day when your body is safe.