<P> To share their method , Wilson and other members wrote the initially - titled book , Alcoholics Anonymous : The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism , from which AA drew its name . Informally known as `` The Big Book '' ( with its first 164 pages virtually unchanged since the 1939 edition ) , it suggests a twelve - step program in which members admit that they are powerless over alcohol and need help from a `` higher power '' . They seek guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God or a Higher Power of their own understanding ; take a moral inventory with care to include resentments ; list and become ready to remove character defects ; list and make amends to those harmed ; continue to take a moral inventory , pray , meditate , and try to help other alcoholics recover . The second half of the book , `` Personal Stories '' ( subject to additions , removal and retitling in subsequent editions ) , is made of AA members ' redemptive autobiographical sketches . </P>
<P> To share their method , Wilson and other members wrote the initially - titled book , Alcoholics Anonymous : The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism , from which AA drew its name . Informally known as `` The Big Book '' ( with its first 164 pages virtually unchanged since the 1939 edition ) , it suggests a twelve - step program in which members admit that they are powerless over alcohol and need help from a `` higher power '' . They seek guidance and strength through prayer and meditation from God or a Higher Power of their own understanding ; take a moral inventory with care to include resentments ; list and become ready to remove character defects ; list and make amends to those harmed ; continue to take a moral inventory , pray , meditate , and try to help other alcoholics recover . The second half of the book , `` Personal Stories '' ( subject to additions , removal and retitling in subsequent editions ) , is made of AA members ' redemptive autobiographical sketches . </P>
where did the name alcoholics anonymous come from
where did the name alcoholics anonymous come from
the initially - titled book , Alcoholics Anonymous : The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism
the initially - titled book , Alcoholics Anonymous : The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism