Parker J. Palmer

Author of A Hidden Wholeness, Let Your Life Speak,
and The Courage to Teach
www.couragerenewal.org

The Power of Collective Wisdom is an important book, not least because of the second, sotto voce part of its title: “...and the trap of collective folly.” We Americans have a long way to go in learning how to access the wisdom of community, despite example after homegrown example of how powerful it can be in everything from technical creativity to peace-making. This book, full of experience-based principles and practices, can help us do exactly that, freeing us from the cultural trap of radical individualism. Equally important, it can help us avoid the power of collective folly -- and, I might add, collective evil -- of which we have seen too much in our time. For anyone who gathers with others in hopes of finding a better way, this book is a must-read.