seeyf's review against another edition
2.0
This book comprises 72 short pieces on whatever Misha Glouberman finds interesting. About half of these are observations from the improvisation and charades classes that he teaches, while others range from his temporary role as a community organiser trying to get a bar in his neighbourhood to lower its volume, to his attempts to quit smoking and, as the title suggests, how to place chairs optimally for different types of social events. Altogether a light and enjoyable read with several interesting anecdotes, but nothing really memorable.
caralikesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
opentopersuasion's review against another edition
5.0
Fun little book containing words of wisdom, snippets and viewpoints from a very smart guy. He sounds really funny and I would have loved to take one of his improv classes.
The way he recommends doing conferences is genius. It's so true that conferences are often full of people who all share the same passion, but who unfortunately only get to listen to one person speak instead of use that time to make connections. I love the idea of conferences as opportunities to be social and let everyone talk in small groups instead.
He also had some great points on neighborhood activism, and how to speak up when something is really bothering you, but also how to compromise with the businesses and others you share your neighborhood with.
The ideas for games were also great, and I will probably incorporate a few of them with friends. Charades never sounded so fun.
The way he recommends doing conferences is genius. It's so true that conferences are often full of people who all share the same passion, but who unfortunately only get to listen to one person speak instead of use that time to make connections. I love the idea of conferences as opportunities to be social and let everyone talk in small groups instead.
He also had some great points on neighborhood activism, and how to speak up when something is really bothering you, but also how to compromise with the businesses and others you share your neighborhood with.
The ideas for games were also great, and I will probably incorporate a few of them with friends. Charades never sounded so fun.
ms_castalian's review against another edition
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.75
darling_beige's review against another edition
I literally could not be bothered anymore. This was not what I wanted. The only essay I truly enjoyed was the very first one and that was only one page. Unless you’re a drama teacher this book is extremely monotonous. It’s advertised as a self help book for people who don’t want to read self help. There was not an ounce of self help in here. The only thing that was consistent throughout this was the amount of damn essays about how to run charade classes. I don’t care. I didn’t like drama class. I don’t want to learn how to be good at charades. Stop.
cmadrenas's review against another edition
3.0
Cutesy, twee, enjoyable enough. Full of really good communication excercises if you have to do icebreakers at your job... A bit awful at times, though (for instance, “a kind of racism that was invisible to all of us”?!?). I wouldn’t recommend it to average adults because it has the Miranda July curse of feeling like a young-white-rich-kids-only club where for reasons you just can’t put your finger on you feel like you don’t belong, while reading it. But I think it’d be a decent graduation gift for a high schooler, and I’d recommend it to highschool teachers, too. With the reminder to be really, really critical and take absolutely nothing seriously.