The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
Ratings31
Average rating3.6
If you had told 20-year-old-me that a book on social gatherings was in my future, I would've raised a skeptical eyebrow; if you'd told me that 55-year-old me would already know and practice much of that advice, I might've laughed nervously while backing away slowly, looking for nearby assistance. How little we know of who we are to become.
This is a lovely book, entirely human-centered. Parker focuses entirely on connection and meaning: she eschews the shallow bullshit of which-paper-stock and what-font engraved invitations, concentrating purely on planning, preparation, communication. Understanding purpose. Paying attention to the reason behind a gathering — whether it be a book club or a meeting between heads of state — and to the needs of the people involved. She lays out ground rules and guidelines for helping you understand the event beforehand, then make it a success. Recommended reading even if you don't often entertain world leaders.
My usual quibble: poor editing. Parker is fond of pronouns; many of her sentences include ambiguous antecedents, forcing the reader to halt and back up. Caveat lector.
P.S. should you decide to time-travel to 1985 to double-check my assertion above, would you mind passing along a stock tip to 20-year-old me? “Buy low; sell high.” would be perfect.
Some great ideas but much stronger for professional gatherings – I don't feel like every personal gathering needs a deep, disputable purpose. For all that Parker disdains the term, sometimes people DO just want to hang out.
I wanted this to be a book about how to improve gatherings and make the most of time with people but most of the book read like a college professor droning on about her achievements in gathering important people. If I could cut out half the pages of this book, it'd be a short book about being a better host. Unfortunately, you have to dig through the ramblings of someone who often breaks her own rules of name and title dropping to get the good parts out of the story.
Could have been a white paper for an events consulting company.
Imagine name dropping ppl like Obama but then opening your own book with something as small scale as whether or not the father of your baby should be at your own baby shower.
It was decent. I honestly learned a few things but found it very dry. As a professional planner I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness that goes into a gathering, but also think some gatherings don't need to be overthought. Basically, gathering should go well if you're a great human who actually cares about people...
It did feel overwritten, very not an exciting read despite this being my job, but I finished it nonetheless!
Probably an interesting book but it certainly could be a blog post and thus I don't care because she's wasting my damn time.