The EZ Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous: Same Message—Simple Language - Couverture souple

The author is a retired science writer with many years of sobriety. She spent most of her working years as a functioning alcoholic, working during the day, drinking at night. This led her to drugs—which led her to emergency rooms and eventually to rehab. After her children and grandchildren said they couldn’t deal with her substance abuse anymore, she reluctantly decided to retire from her writing career and sign into a treatment center in one stroke. On discharge 30 days later, she joined Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.). That was over 15 years ago. The EZ Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is the book the author wished she had when she first entered A.A.—a book without sexist language and one that didn’t assume that alcoholics were men with stay-at-home wives. Her goal in writing the book—a project that took four years— was to put the Big Book’s life-saving message in the hands of more readers. Need for a Revised Big Book The author saw that many newcomers found the original A. A. Big Book difficult to read. This guidebook to A.A.’s 12-step program was published by the founders in 1939. Alcoholics attending A.A. meetings in the 2000s are quite different. Some are homeless or come straight from prisons. They have lost their families. Many are marginally literate. Women in the program are usually divorced or single, some struggling to raise children as single parents. At the same time, she heard women complain of how excluded they felt by the gender bias in the Big Book. The author believed that these alcoholics deserved a book they could read with ease—and even enjoy. The Author’s Experience The author has published over one hundred books and articles under her name. She has taught numerous writing seminars to physicians at national meetings. She has also written about health and science for populations with limited reading skills. Her work was funded by medical institutions, government grants, and corporations. This professional experience inspired her to undertake writing the EZ Big Book. During a four-year timeout in the early 1980s, she attended graduate school at the University of Florida and earned an Ed.S. degree in mental health counseling. She offered private counseling as well as group seminars, which focused on the challenges women face in a male-oriented culture. After a year in clinical practice, she decided to return to her first love, writing—where she could reach more people, still serving as a counselor but on the printed page.

Finally! The book that thousands of alcoholics have been waiting for! An updated version of the “Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.” This edited revision of the old, basic text is reader-friendly and carries the exact same message as the 1939 version of “Alcoholics Anonymous.” It’s written in a style that’s friendly to readers of any gender, race, or spiritual path. Until now, Bill Wilson’s 1939 book has never been edited for modern readers.

This book is for:

• Women who object to the sexist language in the original Big Book. The EZ Big Book is gender neutral.
• All partners of alcoholics, including gays and lesbians. The EZ Big Book makes no assumption about the genders or marital status of partners.
• Alcoholics at all reading levels. The language is reader-friendly and journalistic in tone.
• Readers of any faith, including agnostics. The spiritual references in the book are all-encompassing.
• Non-English speakers. Readers for whom English is a second language buy the EZ Big Book because the writing is simple and direct.

About the Author

The author is a retired science and nature writer with double-digit of sobriety. Her last years of drinking took her to emergency rooms several times and finally to rehab.