Customer Reviews

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions

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3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is one of the primary texts for recovery. The other is the AA big Book.

Also, if you are serious about recovery and wish to improve your conscious contact with God you simply must read the book An Encounter With A Prophet by C. A. Lewis.

Before I got to AA I did not know how to live life sober. I could not function without drinking. Alcohol was my life. Alcohol destroyed me and left me with nothing. By the grace of God I was put into the rooms of AA. In the rooms I found a sponsor who bought me a Big Book and a 12x12. The program in the 12x12 saved my life. It taught me a way of life which I had never dreamed possible. By reading this book and attending meetings, working with other alcoholics--I am able to live life sober. I am truly happy, joys and free. I owe it all to my higher power, the program and people in AA. Thank you AA. -Greatful Recovering Alcoholic San Diego, CA

One way to confront a problem with alcohol is to get to an Alcholics Anonymous meeting, get a sponsor, work through the "Big Book" & read this book, probably in that order.
The "12 & 12" offers insight into the 12 Steps beyond that found in the Big Book. It's thought-provoking & helpful for anyone in recovery.
At heart, some may come to realize that they're confronting as much a living problem as an alcohol problem & that the Steps (11 of which do not mention booze) offer a better way of life.
AA is not the only way to recover, but it has proven effective for millions around the world facing a problem with a high relapse rate & lousy prognosis. Anyone who's reached their wit's end with alcohol will find help in AA. The program has no religious requirement, & its members do not tell anyone what to believe. They only suggest a person be willing to believe in a power greater than themself, a god of their understanding. For all anyone cares, this could be a pet dog, as long as it's something to remove the notion that the person is at the center of the universe.
AA has been successful for decades, it is the model for all other 12 Step programs & it is the foundation of much recovery. The program helps members who follow the 12 Steps to restore their self-worth through practicing integrity. It encourages members to let go of self-pity about perceived wrongs done them, accept responsibility for their own lives, acknowledge their pasts & (& this is key) move on. Above all, it encourages living in the present rather than in the past or the future ... thus increasing the odds that one will actually live.
This book is one outstanding part of an arsenal available to alcoholics who want to see their disease go into remission. For anyone who finds the program not to their taste, a return to drinking is always an option.

This is a real must for anyone in any of the of the 12 step programs who is wishing to understand the traditions and steps more completly. The vinyettes are heartfelt and identifyable.

I have tried to follow the 12 steps and 12 traditions for many years, but haven't really known what they are before I began working them with a sponsor. He keeps me honest -- and honesty is a necessity in any program designed to change lives. Without honesty, we refuse to accept the need for improvement or change -- and thus we don't change -- we stay in the "bad old place" which has become our virtual prison -- and condedmns us to a life of living hell.

Anyone who knows the misery of being trapped in a compulsive lifestyle which guarantees pain and often leads to death -- will find that honesty and perserverance in following the steps leads to a miracle of transformation. Transformation into a life of freedom from addiction through a life changing spiritual experience.

The AA 12 and 12 are the first in a number of incarnations of these steps focused on various addictions. Alcoholism, gambling addiction, drug addiction, compulsive over eating and many other addictive diseases are addressed and arrested by these steps as they are applied in particular ways for individual types of addiction.

This book is worth following, adjusting the language to fit the particular disease confrunted by the reader. It is, however not a self-help book. It does not work as only an educational tool -- if it did we would not need others' help. No, each person's transformation is definately associated with systematic group participation and one-on-one support with a sponsor. The relationship dimension of this process is accentuated by the descreption of the process by one of the co-founders of AA. Bill W. writes of this spiritual program in practical terms -- as this is the way it works -- it has worked for me and others. Try the process and see if it works for you.

Yes, read and study the book -- but join with others in the process of working the steps if you expect the process to be continuously beneficial to you. One of the secrets of success of those who follow the steps is the concept -- we are helped by helping others. The only way to avoid addictive behavior is by helping others onto the spiritual wagon with the destination of traveling the road to recovery, helping others on the way.

Bill H.

This is a good place to go for more information when you're working the steps. All of the information necessary to work the steps is in the Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous), but you may find some helpful ideas and things to discuss here. Finally, the Traditions didn't exist when the Big Book was written, so a good discussion of each one is available here. A lot of the stories you hear old timers tell ("Rule 62") are from the traditions section of this book.

The negative comments left by a few are fairly ignorant, in that Al-anon is NOT a religion NOR does it EVER suggest that a person BE religous in order for the program to work. It asks people to be SPIRITUAL, which is entirely different. Those who don't understand what this book is about (which IS part of the process by the way) should GO to an Al-Anon meeting and get themselves educated, instead of JUST reading a book and then discounting the entire program and book out of ignorance. They are doing themselves AND their loved-one a HUGE disservice!

This book, called the 12 & 12 around here, is the best available source for studying the Steps in more detail. Of course, the Big Book ("Alcoholics Anonymous") is the place to start and it contains the program of action required to attain and maintain sobriety. What I have found to be an effective way to work the Steps is to use the 12&12 as a reference as I go along, with the Big Book as my primary text, and discussing all of this with a sponsor (an alcoholic who has made some progress working the Steps who shares his/her experience, strength, and hope with a newcomer on an ongoing basis). Some have found it possible to get sober using just the book(s) and/or meetings, but my observation is that most of these people end up working the Steps in a confused way, or worse, don't really work them at all. Sobriety is about a new way of life free of alcohol, and this life is meant to be happy, joyous and free, not merely "dry" and miserable. The best way to achieve this is to get a sponsor and make use of that sponsor, which will likely involve reading these books and considerable other action as well. See you at a meeting!

I have an old copy of this book that I have read several times. In addition to the Big Book, it is almost a "must read" for anyone conducting or starting AA, Al-Anon, or Serenity Groups meetings. I help conduct Serenity Groups meetings, and I have found this book to be invaluable (visit SerenityGroups.org). In addition, I recommend the book Prayer Steps to Serenity The Twelve Steps Journey: New Serenity Prayer Edition [Paperback]. Based on the 12 Steps, "Prayer Steps to Serenity" does discuss some different traditions because it seeks to encourage inclusive support groups and existing support groups to be more inclusive.

Bill W. was right...the Big Book didn't provide enough information to thoroughly work the twelve steps (e.g.,there is only one para each on six and seven). Here it is spelled out so anyone can do a thorough step study, plus a discussion of the AA Traditions that keep groups operating well. Best AA book after Big Book and Living Sober...