James's "The Varieties of Religious Experience" was very meaningful to him, as it was to many AAs both in those early years and since.

I always think how Bill was so much like the philosopher and writer William James. Both Bill and James were spiritual, though not necessarily deeply religious; they were also both pragmatic New Englanders. Bill had a way of talking about a deep faith inside himself the way James did. Bill liked to read about different interpretations of what God was like. He was very philosophical, and James's "The Varieties of Religious Experience" was very meaningful to him, as it was to many AAs both in those early years and since.