E270: The Most Owned, Least Understood Book in Recovery

Sober Friends

Matt J

12 Steps, Spirituality, Personal Journals, Mental Health, Sober, Recovery, Health & Fitness, Addiction, Religion & Spirituality, Alcohol Free, Sober Curious, Alcoholics Anonymous, Dry January, Society & Culture, Sobriety

4.3 • 722 Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people in AA have a Big Book. Fewer people know how to actually use it. Matt was one of those people for a long time — and he's willing to admit it. In this episode Matt and Steve dig into what the Big Book actually is and what it isn't. It's not a memoir. It's not a devotional. It's not a loose collection of Bill Wilson's thoughts. It's a textbook — sequential by design, with chapters that build on each other deliberately. Read it out of order, rush through it, or t...

Transcript

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0:00.0	The big book's been around since 1939, and a lot of people in AA have one.
0:05.5	Fewer people know how to actually use it.
0:09.0	I was one of those people for a long time.
0:14.8	Welcome to the Sober Friends podcast.
0:17.7	Yeah, we're here to talk about topics like that.
0:20.6	Big Book is one of those days.
0:23.6	That can be a tough thing.
0:25.6	Steve, good morning.
0:27.0	How are you?
0:28.4	Great, Matt.
0:29.1	How are you doing today?
0:30.6	How are you doing?
0:32.0	I'm good.
0:35.5	Thoughts on this topic.
0:39.2	Yeah, I mean, the big book can be confusing, right?
0:42.6	Very.
0:43.3	Listen, I'm one of these people, and this has been not just, not just a.
0:49.0	I mean, it's happened to me with religious stuff, too.
0:51.5	As I got older and as I've actually studied some stuff, right?
0:56.2	And then I've had the opportunity to look, to look objectively at things and not really
1:04.1	be colored by my past or what other people have told me and try to have my own independent thoughts and positions.
1:15.6	And we talk about it here, and you talk about a lot too, is like there's lots in the big book
	...

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