AA’s “Big Book, 5th Edition is going to be a thing, I guess

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I received an email today from someone who thought I’d be interested in this bit of news: Welcome to the Big Book Fifth Edition story submission page! | Alcoholics Anonymous.

I was! Apparently some of my wondering in this post: Hypothetical 5th Edition of the Big Book to have major changes? is coming true. There will be an update to AA’s basic text this decade. However, all the worrying by some people that the ‘First 164 pages’ (i.e. the classic program of recovery spelled out by AA co-founder Bill W.) will be changed has come to naught. According to this quote:

In that spirit, the 2021 General Service Conference recommended that “a Fifth Edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, be developed, including an update of stories to better reflect the current membership, keeping in mind the 1995 Advisory Action:

“The first 164 pages of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, the Preface, the Forewords, ‘The Doctor’s Opinion’, ‘Dr. Bob’s Nightmare”, and the Appendices remain as is.”

Source (a pdf file you can download): STORY SOLICITATION.

So, it seems that they’re going to leave the classic program of recovery untouched. Oh, well. Hopefully the archaic language and century-old thinking on alcoholism doesn’t spell doom for AA. Perhaps they are quietly ‘thinking ahead’ and anticipating a 6th Edition in 2039 (the centennial anniversary of the 1st Edition of the Big Book) and will update the First 164 then. I just hope it won’t be too late after people have abandoned AA for other, more relevant recovery programs that adapt as time moves forward. I can see it now: a majority of AA Home Groups are dominated by people with decades of sobriety and they’re all at least 50 years old and wondering where the young ex-drunks are. 

One personal note: this news originally came out several months ago. The deadline for submitting stories is 31 Oct 2022. One week away! I guess I’m not ‘tuned into’ AA news like I thought. I am sufficiently active on In the Rooms to have heard it there, assuming they would mention such a thing. No matter. I won’t be submitting any story; I doubt they’d accept a story from someone who’s program of recovery is Holy Mass, the other Sacraments, spiritual reading, the Matt Talbot Way, and online recovery (and who last attended a F2F AA meeting in early 2014.) I do hope there’s 1 or 2 (or even 3!) personal stories that focus on online recovery! If they update the Personal Stories section of the Big Book to reflect the current membership, then online recovery has to be represented. Especially as it was critically important to many during the COVID lockdowns!

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