The Anonymous Press is a non-profit outfit that produces some very useful editions of the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous since the basic text is now in the public domain (i.e., no longer copyrighted). Offered by fine folks in recovery.

The Study Edition, either hardcover or softcover, is really useful for those who wish to study the Basic Text of Alcoholics Anonymous (Foreword to Page 164). It has great word indexes - find any word or subject by page number and paragraph. The '30s -era dictionary defines the way the "First 100" used them. Best of all, opposite each page is a blank, ruled page where you can write extensive notes! The perfect tool for Big Book Studies. Footnotes explain obscure references and text revisions.

The Mini Edition easily fits into a pocket so you have a convenient reference while out and about or at a meeting -- it includes the Original Manuscript of How It Works.

The reprints of the First Edition are sure to raise an eyebrown or two - at $3.50, they're a perfect gift.

Serious Big Book students will find the "Electronic Editions" are worth their weight in gold -- a REALLY fast way to find if and where it's in the book! The Basic text, the Original Manuscript, Manuscript comparisions, dictionary, subject and word index, First Edition Stories...windows, macintosh, even palm & pocket PC!

When you order, get a couple Index Pamphlets for your friends or to fit in your standard Big Book.

I order a couple softcover study editions for friends every year, and lots of Mini Editions to give to newcomers...less than $2.50 per copy!

To visit the site, click on the word "visit" below:

In the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix II - Spiritual Experience (4th ed. pg. 568), contains a now-famous quote attributed to Herbert Spencer:

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

A recent article entitled "The Survival of a Fitting Quotation" By Michael StGeorge may be of great interest to those who have heard of doubt that Herbert Spencer ever said or wrote that now-famous quote published in twenty million copies of Alcoholics Anonymous. See http://www.geocities.com/fitquotation/ for the web version of the article.

For some students of the Big Book, the attribution of the quote is not so important as the message. Still, it's likely to help you win a round of Trivial Pursuit at your next meeting after the meeting.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was a British philosopher who attempted to apply the theory of evolution to philosophy and ethics in his series Synthetic Philosophy (1855-1893).