This book laid the ground work for a program of recovery that now serves over 2 million people world wide. This wonderful organization continues to grow and this book allows to you see how it all began at an affordable price and not at the collectors markup of thousands of dollars in some cases. I originally purchased this book because of a reference someone made to it. Its nice to be able to pick the book off the book shelf and find something someone refers to in the First Edition. One of my now favorites is the shortest story ever to be printed in the Big Book and it's only in the First Edition. Buy it and find out what it is (see page 252).