AA 24 Hours a Day: The Book, Not the Helpline

Most people typing this are looking for a book, not a phone number. Twenty-Four Hours a Day is a pocket meditation book that has sat on meeting tables for seventy years, and it is the source of the phrase members quote as the AA Thought for the Day. For help finding AA meetings near you, call (866) 920-0628.

Read more: AA Thought for the Day: What It Is and Where to Read It

What the 24 Hours a Day Book Is

A daily meditation book written by Richmond Walker, who self-published it in the late 1940s before Hazelden began publishing it in 1954. Members have described getting sober on two books: the Big Book and this one.

It is small on purpose. The pocket edition is the one most often seen in meetings, carried rather than shelved.

How Each Day Is Built

Every date carries three parts in the same order: the A.A. Thought for the Day, the Meditation for the Day, and the Prayer for the Day.

That structure is why the phrase Thought for the Day is so familiar to people who have never owned a copy — it is a heading inside this book, not a saying in its own right.

It Is Not Conference-Approved Literature

This surprises people, given how often it appears on a literature table. The book is published by Hazelden, not by AA World Services, and it does not carry the Conference approval that Daily Reflections does.

That does not make it less loved or less used. It means AA as a fellowship never adopted it, and groups that read it do so by their own choice.

Where to Read Today's Entry

Hazelden Betty Ford publishes the current day free on its own site, and also sells the book and an app. Those are the sources worth using.

The full text circulates as PDFs and reposted daily blogs, and nearly all of that is unlicensed. Those copies are also frequently wrong for the date or missing entries.

24 Hours a Day the Book, or AA Around the Clock

The phrase has a second, literal reading: is there AA help available at any hour. The answer is yes — telephone helplines run around the clock, and online meetings run in every timezone, so there is almost always a meeting starting somewhere.

But if you arrived here after hearing the phrase in a room, it was the book.

Using It as a Daily Practice

Members who keep the habit read the day's entry at a fixed point, usually first thing. Two or three minutes is the whole commitment.

Missing a day costs nothing. The book is organised by calendar date, so you pick it up wherever you are rather than catching up.

Finding a Meeting That Reads It

Plenty of groups open by reading the day's entry aloud and then take it as the discussion topic. That is a different experience from reading it alone on a phone.

You can search by city and state in our directory, and listings show the format so you can find literature and meditation meetings near you.