Wrap-Up

I had planned to write this immediately after finishing, but as I was writing, it felt like it was still too fresh and was focusing on the final chapters of the book rather than the entire work, so I waited until now to come back to it.

The book started out strong for me mainly because of the way it laid out its thesis - the need for relationship-based activity - their importance in developing connections and enforcing team building, and it that respect, I think the book succeeds. The activity discussion was a mixed bag for two reasons:

1. The writing of the book - regimented and overly structured - was unnecessary to the point of distraction. In the final chapters, I found myself becoming derisive of what I was reading and not putting myself in a place to accept the material and had to pause. I feel that this book was written from the perspective of someone physically presenting the information as if it were part of a seminar. In that environment, I would not have been so distracted and it would have made more sense to say provide a mock speech.

2. Some of the exercises, and some of the discussion was aimed at the K-12 set, which is not my field. Topics such as how to interact with parents of children made it less relatable.

If there's anything I would recommend for this book, it would be the first two chapters - the discussions of how relationships and tension can impact learning or even's one social harmony was written well, and what I found most interesting, was its dwelling even on the mundane interactions - the idea that those can be just as powerful as an intimate conversation over time was rather eye-opening and is probably the thing that will stick with me most going forward.

While there are exercises I found helpful in this book, particularly the STEW process in Chapter 3 and the Truth Letter in Chapter 5, I think many of the exercises are merely variations on a theme and hence come off as filler.

My final suggestion is to read those first few chapters, but after that,  skim the exercises and find what is relevant to your audience.