Good morning everyone!

Turning to page Roman Numeral xi, the preface to the Third Edition,
and looking at paragraph #2 this book is identified as "the basic
text for our Society". A basic text is a book which can convey
knowledge, or as discussed earlier - a text book.

Go to page xiii - the Foreword to the First Edition. The first
paragraph is where we want to draw our attention. Bill realized that
there is strength in the collective voice, hence "...are more
than one hundred men and women who have recovered (there it is
again!)...". The fact of the matter is that you are more likely to
listen to one hundred than to just a single voice.

"To show other alcoholics PRECISELY HOW WE HAVE RECOVERED is the main
purpose of this book". A powerful statement! (It is interesting to
note the capitalized words in the sentance above were capitalized in
the first edition of the book. Subsequent editions italicized these
words. I'll have to use caps instead of italics when adding emphasis
where the book does) It is here that I usually talk about the recipe
for my Aunt Pat's strawberry short cake, which I love. I look
forward to it everytime I see her out in Newton, New Jersey. After
years of visits I finally ask her for the recipe which she gladly
gives to me.

I go home, follow the directions as they were written and viola! the
strawberry shortcake I have always loved. Then my ego gets involved.
I think a little more sugar in the whipped cream would improve it.
Maybe frozen strawberries. Or lets use Cool Whip® instead of real
whipped cream. I make the cake using my version and it isn't as
good, in fact I am disappointed. The Big Book shows us the specific
recipe for sobriety and, if we follow it carefully, we will get all
the benefits of The AA Program. If we change the recipe we will get
something else and we will be greatly disappointed.

Next we will go to page xv - the Foreword to the Second Edition.

We'll hit it hard again on tomorrow. Keep up the dialogue! Thanks
again and don't forget to pass it on!

Jim