Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

Author: Margaret J Wheatley

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2009)

Binding: Paperback, 182 pages

Simply profound

Margaret Wheatley's new book demonstrates the importance of more deeply coming to understand and listen to one another if we are to not only survive but to thrive, as our world sits at a key moment in human history. The method is profoundly simple which is what makes it simply profound. If the practice of conversation suggested in this text were to begin to take place, there can only be hope for a better existence for all-and it can start right now, today, with anyone willing to get together and simply converse. This book provides a hopeful tool for anyone concerned about our world and the directions it is heading-it provides practice and promise to make a real difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. I recommend this book with great energy and enthusiasm and am most grateful for the wisdom of this fine author.

- Steven J. Donaldson (Seattle, WA United States) 

From a teenagers point of view

The main reason for me coming here and writing this review is that I'm not the typical person to read a book like this, let alone fall in love with a book like this. I am a seventeen year-old high-school student from Utah, but more than that I am Margaret Wheatley's son. But I firmly believe that her being my mother has nothing to do with me enjoying this book. She has written other books. None of them I have ever fully read, nor considered trying to finish reading. They adult books, and to me they are boring. But there was something about "turning to one another" that was different from any book I have ever read.
My mom gave me a copy of it before it was done just to see what I thought. I objected to reading more boring adult literature that I didn't understand, but because it was important to her I did. About two hours after I started reading it I realized I was almost half way through the book with no intention of stopping anytime soon. It is rare that a book catches my attention like that. And that is what I believe this book is. It is an extremely rare and incredibly important book. After reading it I felt that even someone like me could make a change in this frightening world. And for once I really was proud to be human and no longer scared, but excited to see what tomorrow and the future would bring me. I think that is something that we all need right now. We are living in a time where countless people are losing their faith in not only people, but also the future.

I don't know what else to say about this book. It really does speak for itself. I know that anyone, no matter how old or young, could pick up this book, read the first few pages and fall in love with it the way I did. It is written very clearly and is extremely easy to understand. Most of all it truly does what the title says, it restores your hope to the future and I feel it is something every one should read.

- Nicolas Pesci (Utah) 

One of the most important books I've read

It is based on the incredibly simple premise that growth, real growth begins with two people having a conversation.

Part 1 discusses a range of subjects: Wheatley's views on conversation and listening, including the importance of staying with conversations that sometimes get "messy" to reveal deeper truths and commonalities; her belief in the importance of being surprised and even shocked by the person(s) with whom she converses, versus seeking people who agree with her, affirm her thoughts, or where the conversation follows either a predictable course, or safe outcomes; the belief that differences between people can lead to deeper commonalities and greater closeness.

Quite frankly, there are simply too many gems of wisdom and insight in this book to do more than recall a handful that particularly struck me.

Part 2 is very short, restating some fundamental principles or concepts explained in greater detail in Part 1.

Part 3 is a list and explanation of 10 possible conversation openers.

This is not per se a "how to" book, as if there is "one way" either to converse, listen or relate to another person. Quite the opposite. She talks, for example, of the reality that various people can have a seemingly unlimited number of interpretations and reactions to a given event to stress (implied) that what matters is the process, the act of conversing and relating.

Wheatley's book is about possibilities, the possibilities that everyone possesses in terms of relating to one another, personal growth, healing oneself and restoring hope in the future, compared to the fragmentation, isolation, pressures of day-to-day life, the impersonality of technology, etc.

It is an exciting book to read, a book that virtually anyone can benefit from no matter where they are in their lives. It is, fundamentally, a gift that those of us fortunate to read this book should be grateful Margaret Wheatley wanted to share.

- M. Levitt (Philadelphia, PA)