Big Book Review

[Guest guest]

Hi everybody!

Its been great reading your articles, Cool Brit! I'm going to answer

a couple more in a little while, and am saving all of them.

There's another fun way we can make this world a better place.

Wrting book reveiws for Amazon.com. Anyone can! Below is the

one I wrote about the test, ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS. I did not

think one of the reviews of Ken's book was very accurate, so I'm

going back to write a more detailed one. Time to investigate whats

there under Trimpey's and Chaz Bufe's book, too. If accurate

reviews are already there, fine. But is not, well, I like knowing I'm

not

powerless, don't you?

Anyway, tell me what you think:

fransway29@... from California , 06/20/98 <Picture: 1 out of 5

stars>

This Book is Passe

Alcoholics Anonymous, aka the Big Book, may have seemed like great news

50 years ago, but it was bad news then, and its bad news now.

The book is divided into 2 basic sections: The program of recovery along

with glowing descriptions of the AA way of life can be found in the

first 11 chapters. The second part of the book is devoted to the

personal stories of beleivers. Yes, Alcoholics Anonymous is a religious

text. No studies, no scientific evidence that anything proclaimed in

this book is factual, is cited within its pages.

In the first 11 chapters, alcoholism is described as a malady so

hopeless only a spiritual experience, through a Higher Power, will grant

a daily reprieve. The spiritual experience is supposedly gained through

taking the 12 steps. These steps are blatantly religious. . It becomes

clear by the end of chapter 6 that the program consists of admissions of

powerlessness, insanity, and the need for a " moral inventory " where

" character defects " are found. A complete confession to another person

of past wrongs is also required. Those who leave embarrassing facts out

of this confession have this fate: " Quite invariably, they (get) drunk. "

Included in the moral inventory is a treatment of anger so unhealthy

that any counseor who actually were to recommend this book to a client

as treatment for anything should be sued. In chapter 5, on pages 64-67,

people who have had serious drinking problems are told that anger and

resentment, rather than being valid emotions, are " poison " for

alcoholics and will " destroy more alcoholics than anything else. " A

method is then outlined for dealing with anger: basically, finding that

all anger is the alcoholic's fault. Along with self blame and the

finding of one's own defects, a prayer is recommended for further

anger-squelching. These methods, along with the continual humiliation

and finding of defects required in the rest of the steps, are surely

more a recipe for depression than for any kind of healing.

Wives and familiy members who wish to be insulted and abused have their

own chapters: " To Wives (chapter 8) " and " The Family Afterward (chapter

9) " In this chapter, wives are cautioned about intolerance and nagging--

their men might get drunk(p.135). Family members are given a description

of the religious fanatic their loved one might become due to his

involvement with AA(P.128).

The second part of this book consists of a number of first-person

stories told by AA members of their drinking past and their AA

experience. There's no way of knowing how useful these stories are,

since they are strictly the opinions of the writers. But we can rest

assured not one story is by anyone who may have attempted the program

with disastrous results. We do hear about one such person in Chapter 1

: " One poor chap committed suicide in my home. He could not, or would

not, see our way of life.(p.16) There are also references to

" distressing failures. "

This book does not belong in the recovery, or health care sections of

any bookstore or library. It belongs in the religious section, perhaps

even in the New Age, Cult or Christian Mystisism departments of larger

stores with a warning label: CAUTION: Following these directions could

be dangerous to your mental health!

Sincerely,

______________________________________________________

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