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Patricia · 10-28-2008, 07:07 AM

Actually, GatorDeb, the Fourth Edition at http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/ has the bulk of the text in protected PDF and there doesn't seem to be a way of buying it. It's available only to read online. I expect that the A.A. haven't yet caught up with ebooks and are hoping that people will buy the paper copies to which they hold the copyright.

But there is good news. According to information at http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/
it seems that the A.A. forgot to renew the U.S copyright on the first edition. This is available online quite easily, though not in especially well-formatted versions. So I'm compiling a copy, and should be able to upload it this evening.
The eleven chapters which form the bulk of the book are the same. The personal stories have been added to, and updated in the fourth edition, and the appendices have also been updated.

There are a few versions online for sale, or on pirate sites. But, as far as I can see, they are all of the copyright-expired first edition. So there won't be any point in paying money for any other ebook version, until or unless the A.A. release one of their own.

10-28-2008, 07:07 AM	#4
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Actually, GatorDeb, the Fourth Edition at http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/ has the bulk of the text in protected PDF and there doesn't seem to be a way of buying it. It's available only to read online. I expect that the A.A. haven't yet caught up with ebooks and are hoping that people will buy the paper copies to which they hold the copyright. But there is good news. According to information at http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/ it seems that the A.A. forgot to renew the U.S copyright on the first edition. This is available online quite easily, though not in especially well-formatted versions. So I'm compiling a copy, and should be able to upload it this evening. The eleven chapters which form the bulk of the book are the same. The personal stories have been added to, and updated in the fourth edition, and the appendices have also been updated. There are a few versions online for sale, or on pirate sites. But, as far as I can see, they are all of the copyright-expired first edition. So there won't be any point in paying money for any other ebook version, until or unless the A.A. release one of their own.