Armchair Adventure Book Club: The Art of Gathering: How We Meet & Why It Matters

IMPORTANT NOTE: We usually meet on the last Wednesday of the month. But as a group, we decided to push this meeting back one week, to December 2nd, because meeting on the day before Thanksgiving was going to create a scheduling difficulty for many of us.

The Book: The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (2018), by Priya Parker. 320 pages

Free event!

What if I have not finished reading this book, or have not read it at all?
That's okay! We hope you will come to this book club meeting, no matter how much of the book you have read. This book features many compelling themes and ideas that will be fascinating to discuss. Everybody who comes to this book club meeting will be able to participate and enjoy the discussion.

About the Author: Priya Parker grew up navigating two contrasting family worlds: her mother's Indian, Buddhist-Hindu-New Age household and her father's white, American, Evangelical Christian household. Parker became world-renowned conflict resolution expert and facilitator.

In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive—which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.

Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings—conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp—and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience.

The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue—and how you host and attend them.

What to Bring? You do not need to bring anything. Simply read the book OR listen to the audio book. It can be useful if you bring your physical or digital copy of the book.

Who? This is a fun book club event that men and women from the neighborhood potluck list are invited to, along with everybody else who is interested.

Fun Book Club: This will be the 51st monthly meeting of this book club. We had so much fun at the all of the meetings so far, with wonderful, fascinating discussions with great neighbors and new friends. If you like books or interesting discussions... or simply want to have fun meeting new people, I highly recommend RSVP-ing for this event.