During my first year in recovery I clung to my Big Book like a drowning man holding onto a lifepreserver. I read it all day, every day, and took it with me wherever I went. I highlighted it, underlined it, and wrote notes in the margins as if it were a college textbook and I was studying for the big final. Of course, I was studying for the big final. In this case the big final was Life and Sobriety 101, which, 14 years later, I still seem to be getting a passing grade in, in large part thanks to the Big Book and all the wisdom, experience, strength, and hope it has to offer. Aside from The Bible, that's all I read during my first year of recovery. It never ceased to amaze me that, during times of emotional turbulence, whenever I sat down and opened the Big Book I was always filled with a sense of peace and calm, almost immediately. It was like having a meeting and a roomful of friends with me 24/7. It's safe to say that that book not only changed my life but probably saved it as well. I don't know how many more times I could've made it home drunk and high in my car w/o fate finally catching up to me. There but for the grace of God go I, if you know what I mean. Well, I guess that's enough preaching for today. I just wanted to put that out there for the newcomers or those struggling with their sobriety. The Big Book is an amazing piece of work, and if you dive into it with everything you've got, I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised--if not downright amazed--at how well it works to keep you safe and sane in a world that seems to be increasingly obsessed with getting drunk and high.