How do these comments resonate with you?
“In making this gem of a book available to digital readers, Dr. Alan Stewart, inventor of the popular conversation process known as Conversare http://conversare.net/, has given the world the best summary of conversation skills I have found anywhere. If you can’t attend one of Alan’s Conversares or meet him in person, the next best thing is to download his book and practice the important behaviours which he has learned through his illustrious professional and scientific career in Africa, Australia, Europe, Asia and America.”
Peter Nixon
Hong Kong
“The e-book format is ideally suited, I think, to books that serve up their fare in many small chunks that the reader can savour and enjoy. This is also an apt metaphor for the spiritual and mental nourishment that this book provides – it is a smorgasbord of rich pickings about the almost forgotten art of conversation – or, I should say, the magical art of conversing.
The fact that `good things happen when we treat each other well’ – what Alan Stewart calls `the other side of the Golden Rule’ – is a central theme of most conversations and of this book. Without that driving force the future of our fragile civilisation would be quite grim.
Many different situations in which conversing occurs – with strangers, in communities, in the workplace – from reaching out of loneliness to banter to debate – are discussed in this book. There are dozens of apt quotations from a wide variety of sources, which students of this important topic will find useful as pointers for their work.”
Lloyd Fell
Australia
“Time to converse is not only a fine piece of art, it’s a jewel of knowledge and inspiration. It captures conversation as a storytelling dance that coordinates our lives. In today’s highly competitive [and fragmented and distracted ] social environment it is crucial to understand that the success of humankind within the evolutionary history of our planet depends on our capacity for cooperation and communication. Indeed it is time converse, knowing that conversing means changing our life together to create the friendships, the businesses, the organizations, the communities we need and want! If solutions are possible, they are always found through conversing.”
Lucas Pawlik
Austria
“In these heartfelt “musings”, Alan Stewart shares the pithy quotes, key ideas, and tantalizing opportunities we have to truly “converse” together-turning to one another, dancing together in conversations which expand our thinking, touch our emotions, and nourish our spirits.We are so often tortured with “academic treatises” that are long on citations and short on moments of personal recognition or insight.
This small book does the opposite. Even without extensive citations, Alan shares his own kaleidescope of personal reflections and those of others who have valued the power of conversation, deep listening, and treating each other well to change our minds and our lives–individually and collectively.
Thank you Alan, for taking time to converse with us, your readers, and enriching our own capacities for human warmth in the process.”
Juanita Brown and David Isaacs
Co-Founders of the World Cafe
USA
“Gd morning mr alan ur book really beautiful makes me feel fly on the sky with my hopes that always make me stronger and have new life thank u so much, you make me really happy and I feel likes a human being now thank u really this from my deeply heart, best.”
Misel Veronika
Young Indonesian woman, Hong Kong
“I took the opportunity to read your book ‘Time to converse’ while flying to Mumbai via Singapore. I had commenced reading when I was in Adelaide, but then I read it right from the beginning while I was travelling. I enjoyed your book thoroughly and I need to thank you for the same. It is simply wonderful. You are an exceptional writer.”
Arti Bhattacharya
India
“Received your marvellous little book, Time to Converse. Have enjoyed all the many aphorisms concerning conversation – they could easily fill the front of a large refrigerator.”
Peter Adams
Australia
and a comment on why the ideas here, so central to wholesome living, may not be taken in at a glance …
“I have placed ‘Time to converse’ on my breakfast table and I read one page per day.”
Claudia L’Amoreaux
USA
“This book shows us the simplest of all ways to discover ourselves and discover others – through conversation. This isn’t talking AT someone. It’s communing with another with curious interest and appreciation for whatever might come forth – the surprise of the moment. Alan’s invitation to each one of us, to communities and groups and ultimately, the whole human race is to discover and appreciate the magic of each unique voice/heart – for each has a place in the tapestry of humankind.”
Andrew Horwood
Australia
“A mutual friend generously gave me a copy of your brilliant little book ‘Time to converse’. It’s a treasure. I just ate up every page. I pick it up and allow a page to open so it chooses to fill me up. The quotes and the essence speak to me profoundly.”
Robyn Stratton-Berkessel
USA
“Yes this book tugged at my heart and I felt myself dreaming about what could be if we gave center stage to conversations in our lives, if we gave it the high regard that it deserves. Such a precious thing to have and to hold and something that is available to each and every one of us!
…Without true conversations, society becomes a wasteland of despair and isolation. In reading this book, I was reminded that what we are searching for is right here in front of us. All we need to do is open our mouth, open our hearts and ears and engage in that which is most basic, profound and powerful of all – simple conversations with others. Conversations that lead naturally to genuine acts of kindness! Or as Alan Stewart says: “Whenever we treat each other well, good things happen.
People who know that at the heart of it all, conversation is where great projects begin and where people find each other. [This] book could inspire much in spirit and in skill.”
Suzanne Daigle
USA
“What we do with ‘Time to converse’ is to read a section, often at random, to our partner and then ask, “When you hear those words – what comes to mind? And that simple question can lead to all sorts of memories, ideas, plans – and action – and pleasure: really neat profound pleasure. In fact, the more you do it the farther it leads.
Another way I use ‘Time to converse’ is as a powerful resource is to read to jog reminders that bring me into full feeling of the delight that profound conversation can bring.”
Mike Sands
Canada
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