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AA newcomers are often reminded that they might be “the only copy of the Big Book that another alcoholic will ever see.” That’s another way of saying that our literature is never meant to stay on the page, but is meant to come alive through us. Integrating our literature into our daily lives is only possible because the words on our pages are never merely theoretical, they’re written for one reason only: to become as much a part of our dailiness as healthy food is meant to become our bodies. “A Walking Tour Through AA Literature” is as comprehensive a guide to this printed wisdom of ours as any we’ve seen.

Alcoholics have a built-in forgetter. Fortunately, our literature is designed to respond to this reality. Written directly from experience, it’s endlessly rich and never beats around the bush. Startling as well as soothing, our literature is a resource for nothing less than sobriety, sanity, and salvation.

In “Rare and Elusive,” the writer, a seeker of antiquarian editions, explains why a first edition Big Book is no longer just a collector’s item to him. Taking the printed word to heart in AA is the message of “Making the Big Book Come Alive,” where a new member observes a sober father patiently answering his young son’s questions, while the writer remembers that his own alcoholic answers were so often given “with fists or big talk.”

Our literature can be found online as well. In “Toy Box” we hear gratitude for Grapevine’s Story Archive, where one member found “an insightful comparison [that] inspires me, lifts me up, and helps me meditate on the simplicity and immensity of life.” We eventually learn the explanation for one AA phenomenon: finding new insights in material we’ve read over and over and over. Apparently we can only take in what we’re ready to hear. And since the old-timers’ ideal wish for the newcomer is for “a long, slow recovery,” we relish the new insights we receive from our AA literature as they come, one day—and one page—at a time.