Bill P. - The Little Red Book Study Guide

About the Author

Bill P. has worked in the alcohol and drug addiction field for eighteen years as counselor, historian, educator, and author. He completed his masters degree in addiction studies with an internship at the Alcoholics Anonymous Headquarters archives. He also worked four years on the A.A. Grapevine magazine.

While researching the background of the Little Red Books fiftieth anniversary edition, important new information was found regarding the authors Ed Webster and Barry Collins. As the popularity of the book increased in the 1950s, various study guide formats were put together across Canada and New England. The Step study guides have been called the Novalco Method and AAWOL (An Alcoholics Way of Life).

Bill P. has taken the information from Ed Websters notes and the many past formats and compiled and written this new study guide to the time-honored classic, The Little Red Book.

About the Book

This study guide for The Little Red Book is designed to meet both the needs of AA study groups and those of newcomers to AA who are working the program on their own. Long regarded as the guide to the Twelve Steps, The Little Red Book draws from the practical experience of alcoholics who found peace of mind and sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous. Modeled after Twelve Step instruction programs offered at AA meetings, this new guide provides a solid and comprehensive tool for studying The Little Red Book. While The Little Red Book interprets the Twelve Steps, The Little Red Book Study Guide gives newcomers to AA the structure needed to live them.

About Hazelden Publishing
As part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Hazelden Publishing offers both cutting-edge educational resources and inspirational books. Our print and digital works help guide individuals in treatment and recovery, and their loved ones. Professionals who work to prevent and treat addiction also turn to Hazelden Publishing for evidence-based curricula, digital content solutions, and videos for use in schools, treatment programs, correctional programs, and electronic health records systems. We also offer training for implementation of our curricula.
Through published and digital works, Hazelden Publishing extends the reach of healing and hope to individuals, families, and communities affected by addiction and related issues.
For more information about Hazelden publications,
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Hazelden Publishing
Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176

800-328-9000
hazelden.org/bookstore

1998 by Hazelden Foundation
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No portion of this publication may be reproduced
in any manner without the written permission
of the publisher, except the Daily Inventory Log,
My Daily Inventory, and My Daily Inventory Review
all of which are reproducible for personal use.

ISBN: 1-56838-283-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61649-122-2
05 04 03 02 01 00 98 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Book design and typesetting by Evans McCormick Creative
Cover design by David Spohn

Editors note:
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions are reprinted with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Permission to reprint the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication, nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. AA is a program of recovery from alcoholism onlyuse of the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after AA, but which address other problems, or in any other non-AA context, does not imply otherwise.

TO THE MEMORY OF
BARRY COLLINS
AND
ED WEBSTER

The answers will come,
if your own house is in order.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

PAGE 164

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

LESSON ONE
THE PROGRAM OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

LESSON TWO
STEP ONE

LESSON THREE
STEP TWO

LESSON FOUR
STEP THREE

LESSON FIVE
STEP FOUR

LESSON SIX
STEP FIVE

LESSON SEVEN
STEP SIX AND STEP SEVEN

LESSON EIGHT
STEP EIGHT AND STEP NINE

LESSON NINE
STEP TEN

LESSON TEN
STEP ELEVEN

LESSON ELEVEN
STEP TWELVE

APPENDIX 1
THE TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

APPENDIX 2
DAILY INVENTORY LOGS

APPENDIX 3
MY DAILY INVENTORY

INTRODUCTION

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The following guide is to be used with the 1986 revised hardcover edition or the paperback edition of The Little Red Book, both of which are available from Hazelden. (This study guide does not correspond to the page numbers in the 50th Anniversary edition of The Little Red Book.) When paragraph numbers are shown in this guide, count down from the first full paragraph on the page indicated in The Little Red Book.

This guide lists key ideas from The Little Red Book. Most study groups and individuals highlight or underline the key ideas in their Little Red Book and write the corresponding key idea numbers in the margin. This method helps as a chairperson may refer to a certain key idea during discussion periods.

Groups and individuals can set up various formats for using this study guide. One popular method is to use the study guide during twenty-four weekly meetings. Chairpersons may easily adapt this study guide to any length for group study, and individuals may choose their pace.

Most groups using the guide sit in a circle so everyone can see each other. The chairperson opens the meeting and conducts whatever preliminaries are chosen by the group: having a moment of silence, reciting the Serenity Prayer, doing roll call, or collecting donations. Most groups read a chapter from The Little Red Book, taking turns with each paragraph or page. After a key idea is read, the chairperson stops and begins the group discussion. At the end of the weeks study, the chairperson assigns homework for the next meeting and asks for a renewed commitment from each member to finish the selected sessions from the study guide.

Whether you are a newcomer or have been in the program for many years, a study of the Twelve Steps in sequence is a time-honored tradition that can only be helpful.

LESSON ONE

THE PROGRAM OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

KEY IDEA 1