Welcome to 164pages.com!
It is our hope that these pages can be a source of inspiration to you. We are men and women in recovery who depend on the program described in the basic text (the first 164 pages) of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Please check back often as we plan to share with you our experience, strength and hope as we guide each other through the 164 pages, and share what these precious pages mean to us.
Why the book “ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS” is called “THE BIG BOOK”?
A printer in Cornwall, NY, named Edward Blackwell, had been highly recommended to Bill Wilson. Blackwell was the President of Cornwall Press. So Bill and Hank Parkhurst (The Unbeliever in the first edition) went to Cornwall to see Blackwell. There they were told that the book would probably be only about four hundred pages when printed. That seemed a bit skimpy. They wanted to sell the book for $3.50 per copy. That was a very large sum in those days, probably the equivalent of about $50 today, and people might not think they were getting their money’s worth. They picked the cheapest, thickest paper the printer had, and requested that each page be printed with unusually large margins surrounding the text. This made for an unusually large book. Thus, the book came to be nicknamed the “Big Book.”
TESTIMONIALS
Tracy L
Sober since April 5, 1995
shell
Sober since July 8, 1991
John B.
Sober since March 28, 1989
You?
Sober since…
What?! A tpyo?
Despite all their efforts at proofreading, there was a typographical error in the first printing.
On page 234, the second and third line from the bottom was printed twice. This was corrected in subsequent editions.
Big Book… Big Words… Look up the dictionary definitions of those cunning, baffling and powerful words!
Tell us your story!
What has the Big Book meant to you? Submit your experience, strength and hope in regards to how the 164 pages has changed your life!
Send an email to tracy@164pages.com with your first name, last initial and favorite text of the Big Book and why.
