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.

Excellent book!!! Gave a perfect breakdown of how to create a perfect gathering. Also helped me understand why I hate my book club and how to fix it. Super interesting for anyone who enjoys the psychology of planned human interactions and how to make them better

Humans are "social animals," so Aristotle said long ago. We gather together to get things done, whether those gatherings are familial, a work conference, religious, or a party. What makes a good gathering work? Are there universal rules that govern gatherings' format so that you can construct it to achieve a given goal? Yes, says Priya Parker, and this book seeks to show us how. I help organize biannual academic conferences as a part of my responsibilities as a university employee. Understanding how meetings work and why will help me co-design our conferences better. I've never read another book about this topic before, so this book did provoke some thought about how organizing the theater of an event could better bring about intended results like networking and audience engagement. The information about why we humans meet was not especially enlightening. Although it provided some outlandish examples for meetings, this section did not teach me a lot. What Parker did teach me pertained to the structure of gatherings. For instance, openings of gatherings are supposed to "honor and awe" the audience. This aim optimally engages an audience with the material of the gathering. I'll have to give some thought about how we can do that better in my projects. This book is more philosophical than a book of tips. It teaches us how to understand gatherings and to learn from all sorts of gatherings rather than just how to put on the best [insert type of gathering] get-together. That original aspect makes this book more valuable than a generic party-planning book. I've never read a book quite like it before. If you're interested in bringing audiences along for a ride, this book will show you how to do so effectively.

If you want to make your events more meaningful, read this book. There are so many parts of events that should be considered. I have ideas and a clearer idea moving forward. Great read.

It’s rare to find a book that one can apply so immediately to one’s life. This is the one that I will recommend to my kids and everyone that I meet throughout my life.

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

I bought this for research, overall a good book, didn’t pay attention to original publication date. Still provided good research source.

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.

Buen libro

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

Great book

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.