The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

A phenomenal book for anyone who is a club leader, who wants to build community from scratch, or who simply wants to put together a successful gathering of humans. As someone who has started various communities, I found that the principles laid out here ring very true in real-world settings. Very insightful observations and guidance. The book is a pleasure to read as well, it is approachable and does not belabor anything, but provides good illustrations of when things work and don't work and why. I mention this book to anyone interested in the subject of creating community.

If you’ve ever hosted or ever wanted to host a gathering, this book is essential reading. It’s not enough to open your doors and invite people in, you need to think about what it truly means to create a gathering. This book is the template to make your events worthwhile.

Educational, inspiring and very helpful advice. Took away many golden nuggets and will implement so much in my future gatherings. However, I felt the author was reaching when she says traditional etiquette is repressive and she reveals subtlety her political bias, so I removed a star. Plus, she states the white attire only dinner event that started in France, as an example of an inclusive , everyone is equal, no status is revealed, blah blah event, but completely ignores the fact the entire rules of the event itself, only people with means can afford to attend! Smh. Formal,, all white attire, table of a certain size only , fancy silverware, etc.

This is an incredible book. Parker does a flawless job of explaining her theories, naming them memorably, and justifying them. She offers many examples of gatherings to spark imagination in readers to take similar action in their own lives. I genuinely think this book's principles could change how even three people gather together. I've told so many people about this book. The cover is a real winner, too.

A weirdly amazing book that mixes principles for organizing a successful gathering together with etiquette rules, psychology and a pinch of politics. The author encourages people to think about various etiquette rules (without making any judgment as to what is right or wrong) and introduces psychological concepts that are prevalent in our daily lives without our realization. While the author does not express any political opinion, she does touch on how today’s political discourse takes shape when people avoid confrontation and she offers some suggestions about how such discourse can lead to fruitful conversations in a respectful environment that encourages people to disagree with each other while also trying to understand each other (after stopping worrying about saying something politically incorrect). The book is also full of examples from the author’s life and career but the examples are used to draw principles that are applicable to our daily lives. Going forward, it will be one of the books that I will use as a resource whenever I organize a gathering with friends and/or colleagues. As for the readers who criticized the author’s name-dropping throughout the book. To be honest, I think it’s pretty easy to ignore all the names throughout the book and to just focus on the underlying lessons and principles that the author draws from various examples. But if you have a specific hatred towards influential people, sure, don’t buy/read this book as the mention of familiar names might rub you the wrong way.

pretty good book but nothing that common sense doesn't really tell you. I ended up skimming a lot of this and wondering if its worth what i paid. I would pass

Priya is methodical, intentional and quite resourceful in helping us think - through and execute family, professional and life-moments through gathering. I have been excited to purchase this hardcopy fof months now!

Excellent book with examples on how to conduct excellent and meaningful gatherings.

Buen libro

book is amazing. It has helped me better design my brainstorming sessions and effectively arrange group events. I liked the writing style

This book lets you think about gatherings and what is the root cause of it. And plenty of things about differents aspects of gatherings. Sometimes little long on personal exemple but it worths the time spent reading it.

I loved this book so much and found I was talking to friends about it, even before I had finished reading it. The book is well-written and filled with ideas for different ways to gather. Would thoroughly recommend.

Was ich an diesem Buch mag: es geht zwar um Moderation, aber die zahlreichen Beispiele zeigen, wie sehr Moderation mehr ist als Workshops und Meetings! Auch in Familien oder im Gerichtssaal kann man mit der richtigen Haltung so viel für ein besseres und verständnisvolles Miteinander tun!