Frequently Asked Questions
- Is 164 and More conference-approved literature?
- I can't find a word in the alphabetic list of passages.
- I can't find the passage I'm seeking.
- What are "common words"?
- Why are "common words" necessary?
- I can find "alcoholic" on the web site, but not in the book.
- What common words in the book can be successfully found on the web site?
- Highlighting passages in the Big Book.
1. Is 164 and More conference-approved literature?
No.
A.A. World Services, Inc. has granted permission for 164 and More to reprint passages from the A.A. literature. However, AAWS permission does not mean that 164 and More is conference-approved.
Nonetheless, the body of 164 and More is really a slice-and-dice of conference-approved literature. Specifically, the 38,000 passages listed in the book are taken verbatim from either the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous or the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
Top2. I can't find a word in the alphabetic list of passages.
If a word is not listed in 164 and More, that particular word does not occur anywhere in the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous (pp. 1-164) or in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions.
For example, the word "surrender" does not occur in the A.A. literature covered by 164 and More. Hence, you will not find any passages containing "surrender" in the 164 and More book or web site. Top3. I can't find the passage I'm seeking.
If you cannot find the word you are seeking, try another word in the passage. For example, the passage about "King Alcohol" is not shown in the A's since there are no listings for the common word "alcohol". If you look for "king", you will find the passage.
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4. What are "common words"?
Common words are:
- Pronouns, adjectives, or articles. Words like we, of, and the are common words.
- Single-letter words. Examples include A, I, X, 1, 2, and 3.
- Words which occur so often in the literature that they are arguably not helpful when searching.
Common words cannot be used when searching for a particular passage. For example, consider the passage: "either God is everything or else He is nothing." You can only find this passage using the following keywords: "God", "everything", "nothing". The other words in the passage are common words and cannot be used for searching.
Top5. Why are "common words" necessary?
Common words are needed to keep the book to a reasonable size and an affordable cost. If common words were not discarded, the 164 and More book would be 4 inches thick containing 1,700 pages.
Top6. I can find "alcoholic" on the web site, but not in the book.
The web site uses a less-restrictive set of common words than the printed book. Because there are no size constraints on the web site, fewer common words are needed.
If you search for "alcoholic" on the web site, you will find 260 passages. If you look for "alcoholic" in the book, you'll see it noted as a common word:
Common words are still used on the web site since some words are just not useful when researching the A.A. literature. For example, there are over 2,300 passages which contain the word "and". Searching for "and" is not considered useful; hence, "and" is a common word on both the web site and the printed book.
Top7. What common words in the book can be successfully found on the web site?
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alcohol
alcoholic
alcoholics
alcoholism
anonymous
business
enough
man
men
will
8. Highlighting passages in the Big Book.
When you click the Big Book icon 
next to a passage, the chapter containing your passage will be retrieved from the A.A. World Services web site (aa.org). You can then navigate to the page containing your passage.
Some Internet Browsers support a useful feature of Adobe Acrobat which highlights your passage. For example,
If your browser doesn't support this feature, sentences in the Big Book will not be highlighted. Furthermore, Adobe has removed this feature from Acrobat Reader version X released in late 2010. Thus, highlighting will ultimately not work at all.
Kindle Edition
