Bill W. and Mr. Wilson: The Legend and Life of A. A. 'S Cofounder
Author: Matthew J Raphael
William Griffith Wilson, recently cited by Time magazine as one of the hundred most influential individuals of the twentieth century, is better known to many as Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. In Bill W. and Mr. Wilson, Matthew J. Raphael, himself a member of A.A. (and writing here under a pseudonym, in accord with A.A.'s tradition of anonymity), presents a revealing new look at both the legendary Bill W. and the private Mr. Wilson, who tried to live apart from his own celebrity.
In quest of a more historically accurate and complete account, Raphael separates fact from fiction in the standard biographies of Wilson and finds reason to doubt the literal truth of some foundational A.A. stories. He also provides a context for Wilson's (and thus A.A.'s) key ideas in the work of William James, Carl Jung, and other modern thinkers. What emerges is an unvarnished portrait of a charismatic man and social visionary, whose true greatness is all the more apparent in view of his human imperfections.
Readers already familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous will find much to engage them. Others will discover A.A. and its cofounder from an insider's perspective.
Library Journal
"[I]n a hotel then known as Wilson House I was born, perhaps rightly, in a room just back of the old bar," writes Wilson (1895-1970), cofounder and organizer of Alcoholics Anonymous, in this first published edition of an autobiography he began in 1954. Telling one's story is an important AA tradition. Bill W., as Wilson was known in AA circles, had a reputation for being a good storyteller and had previously recounted much of his life in the Big Book (also titled Alcoholics Anonymous) and other writings. Here, Wilson tells of his childhood, military service, marriage, attempts to stop drinking, and spiritual conversion in 1934 but stops short of his historic meeting with cofounder Dr. Bob. The publisher has added articles, appendixes, and recollections of friends, family, and colleagues to flesh out Wilson's fragmented account. In contrast to Francis Hartigan's recent conventional but comprehensive biography, Bill W. (LJ 2/1/00), Bill W. and Mr. Wilson offers an outsider's "personal impressions and ruminations." Following Wilson's own three-part formula ("what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now"), Raphael, an AA member writing under a pseudonym, observes that "what [Bill W.] used to be like scarcely exists outside...the account he first gave in Alcoholics Anonymous and then repeated often." Raphael seeks to distinguish Bill W., cofounder of AA and the Twelve Steps, from Bill Wilson, who "closely guarded his private life during his public career, even as he seemed to bare his soul at AA meetings." Throughout his life, Wilson battled depression, smoked heavily, and had a reputation as a womanizer. Later in life, he participated in LSD research and promotedalternative therapies for alcoholism. As Raphael describes Wilson's life, he traces parallels in the evolution of AA from its origins in the Oxford Group, a religious lay movement, to a worldwide self-help organization of alcoholics helping alcoholics. Both books, while important contributions to the growing literature on Bill W., are supplementary purchases for collections on drug and alcohol abuse. General collections should acquire Hartigan's Bill W.--Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
What People Are Saying
Roger Forseth
This is the best work I have read on Bill Wilson; it is also one the best intro-ductions to A.A.-its origins, development, and significance.
—Roger Forseth, editor of Dionysos: The Literature and Addiction Tri-Quarterly
Deidre Bair
Raphael not only interprets the 'big' books about the A.A. movement and its two founders (Dr. Bob as well as Bill W.), he has also read all the recent scholarship on the subject and uses it scrupulously and judiciously in the formulation of his own views. I think Raphael's book will become the starting point for any subsequent scholarship and/or discussion of the subject.
—Deidre Bair, author of Anais Nin: A Biography
See also: New Celtic Cooking or From Giacomos Kitchen
Medicinal and Aromatic Crops: Harvesting, Drying, and Processing
Author: Serdar Oztekin
Make sure your crops are market-ready with the aid of harvest and post-harvest mechanization
Medicinal and Aromatic Crops presents harvest and post-harvest mechanization methods for the profitable production of market-ready medicinal crops. This practical handbook includes photos, detailed figures, and schematic drawings of machines that will help bring existing design ideas to life and inspire new ones for use in harvesting and primary processing. The book also includes general information on medicinal and aromatic plants, current production trends, and "how-to" instructions for improving the production process.
Even though the use of mechanization contributes not only to a marked increase in production, but also enables uniform quality and a decrease in drudgery for everyone involved, there's a distinct lack of material available of the subject. Medicinal and Aromatic Crops fills in the gap, providing a thorough, comprehensive look at every aspect of the mechanism of growing, harvesting, and processing, including production steps and procedures, safety and quality, plant drying, the use of renewable energy sources, dry processing, extraction, industrial usage, financial analysis, and software usage.
Medicinal and Aromatic Crops examines:
environmental concerns
manual and semi-mechanized harvesting
transport
the use of solar energy and solid biomass energy
pre- and post-drying processes
plant parts removal
cutting, crushing, and milling
post-drying separation and classification
water and steam distillation
and much more!
Medicinal and Aromatic Crops is an invaluable guide to harvest and post-harvest mechanization for anyone involving inplantproduction and for agriculture educators and students.
"The structure of the book is READER FRIENDLY and it provides information on a wide range of topics within medicinal and aromatic crops. Especially useful are the comprehensive chapters on Harvesting, Drying and Dry Processing, which give a closer look into a diversity of techniques and procedures and even tips and tricks for growers! This is not only a compilation of knowledge gathered during years of university science work; it IS AN EXTENSIVE, USEFUL AND APPLICABLE GUIDE through the vibrant world of medicinal and aromatic crops." — Peter Schulze Lammers, PhD, Professor of Technology in Crop Farming at the University of Bonn, Germany
"I found the drying and industrial usage chapters EXTREMELY VALUABLE AND INFORMATIVE in view of their direct application in practice. I was impressed by the convincing review of the economic aspects of agricultural production of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops, as well as their application in cosmetics, perfumery, medicine and other branches, with the help of modern user-friendly software." — Nicolay Mihailov, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, "Angel Kunchev" University of Rousse, Bulgaria
"PROVIDES GOOD INFORMATION AND IDEAS for developers, supported by a good number of schemes and photographs. . . . The book covers a domain not common in literature . . . and is useful for practitioners, engineers, and producers. In fact, not only does it review the know how relative to a variety of medicinal and aromatic crops and related uses, but it provides useful ideas for adapting existing machines or developing new ones for various operations from harvesting to final processing, as well as to support the respective decision making. The sections on harvesting, drying and dry processing are PARTICULARLY USEFUL FOR AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS and other related professionals." — Luis Santos Pereira, PhD, Professor, Institute of Agronomy, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, President, International Commission of Agricultural Engineering, CIGR
"WELL BALANCED. . . . Discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of the methods for each production phase are based on the tremendous experience of the authors and provide excellent material to enlighten producers and processors. . . . VERY IMPRESSIVE. . . . USEFUL RECOMMENDATIONS are made on natural, mechanical, and microwave drying, practical approaches to dryer selection, and energy costs, process control, product moisture content control, as well as the use of renewable energy sources including solar energy, and the use of solid biomass. All these are elaborated in an elegant fashion." — Shlomo Navarro, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Food Science, Agricultural Research Organization, the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
