|
Personal Village - Book Review |
|
|
|
|
Book Reviews -
Women's Health and Psychology
|
|
Written by Jennifer Thompson
|
 Personal
Village: How to Have People in Your Life by Choice, Not Chance, by Marvin Thomas, MSW
When the means to communicate with others seem
to be increasing all the time - cell phones, email, instant messaging,
message boards on the Internet - many, many people continue to
feel a sense of loneliness, disconnectedness and the nagging
feeling that there ought to be something more to life than what
they have.
Marv Thomas, MSW, wrote Personal
Village to help all of us build,
expand and improve the relationships in our lives. "Too much
is written about how to make money...too little is written about
how to strengthen our personal communities," says Mr. Thomas.
Maybe some intuitively know how to approach a perfect stranger
and strike up a conversation, work a party, or find groups
of people to associate with when moving to a new town. Personal
Village is written for the rest of us.
Marv Thomas addresses two themes in his book: how to
establish connections and more intimate relationships with those
around
us, and why we ought to. If you already know that your
life could use more in the way of meaningful contacts with friends
and family, then Personal
Village will give you specific steps to take to
help you build up your own village. If you're not sure why a Personal
Village might
be important for you and for all of society, then Mr. Thomas
will likely convince you to give it some more thought.
Some of the concepts Mr. Thomas covers include "roaming in your
personal village," "rubbing elbows with your neighbors," finding
a fellowship ("a safe, low-intimacy place to start meeting people"),
starting or joining a salon ("a gathering convened by a leader
at a specific place with the purpose of having a dialogue about
a particular subject") or coterie ("the group equivalent of a
confidant"), and creating a real family for yourself. Mr. Thomas
talks about his
ideas
of
what
community
is today and what a personal village is in the context of history.
He discusses the importance of having a diversified community
- that idea of not putting all of one's eggs in one basket. The
book is easy to use and follow - every chapter has an introduction
so you can quickly see what that chapter will cover; a summary
of key points; and resources that you can use that build on and
expand the ideas in the given chapter.
In a time when many of us are feeling more disconnected from
the people around us than ever before, Marv Thomas' book Personal
Village is a tool that can help bring us together and find that
connection that is missing and that can give our lives more meaning
and satisfaction.
Copyright 2004
This review is available for reprint.
|
