Customer Reviews

Quicksilver: Adventure Games, Initiative Problems, Trust Activities and a Guide to Effective Leadership

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book if you're looking for ways to bring a group of people together and establish positive group dynamics. Whether you've had lots of experience in facilitating group sessions, or none, you'll find the ideas useful. The opening section highlights the pivotal role a facilitator has in ensuring groupwork is affective. The emphasis in the mode of presentation is to give participants the sense that what they contribute is worthwhile and that they can achieve - as a group and as individuals. There are sure to be activities to suit any group size, interest, ability and comfort level. The activities themselves are written in such a way as to encourage you to adapt them if they aren't exactly meeting your groups needs. Adapation and exploration of ideas is encouraged, with an emphasis on fun, participation and acceptance.

I was disappointed in this book. It becomes clear as you read it that it is written for an audience already familiar with the author's Project Adventure. Unfortunately this isn't made clear on the back cover or anywhere else. The first chapter advises telling the group about The Experiental Learning Curve, The Full Value Contract, and Challenge by Choice - but none of these are covered at all in this book - and worse still, the book doesn't even refer one to where one COULD find out about them, beyond a brief mention of another book ("Youth Leadership in Action") on the last page of the book. Also, if you have a basic knowledge of leading experiential learning, then you will not learn anything from the irritatingly chatty introductory chapters of this book. Buy this book based on the games only.

I have used many of the team challenges in this book in my work in youth ministry and public education. There are ideas for everything from ice-breakers to large group challenges that are very effective for building community and encouraging people to work together toward a common goal while having fun at the same time. While some of the ideas require more complex props, many can be done with items you have readily available around the house or office. All of the ideas would work as effectively with youth or adults in a variety of settings. Best of all, the text is written in Rohnke's witty style that makes reading about the games almost as fun as playing them.

Being a challenge course facilitator and adventure educator i have used many books by Karl Rohnke. I recently purchased this book and its focus on not only games, but also the processes i commonly use make Quicksilver a great book for people just getting into adventure learning as well as those who are experienced.

This is another Karl Rohnke winner. If you work with experiential learning (either with kids or adults) this is a great book to have in your library. This book contains a lot of old activities as well as some new ones. As with a lot of experiential activities -- it's great to have the procedure written out. This book is well worth the price.

When you are starting as an experiential education consultant you should read this first book to understad waht ropes courses and adventure activities can do among groups and persons. It is a serious and clear describer of a system to achieve the peoples tasks in a group rising activity. It is a fun and thankfull tool for learning about ropes courses. I read it once each 3 months to remember all the steps the author gives to get to the goal on a group...

I was just starting out leading a team building group and I found this book to be an incredible help. With some creativity, almost all of the activities can be adapted for adolescents and done in-doors. The section on leadership was good but a little simplistic. Regardless I consult this book almost every week and do not know what I'd do with out it!!! I highly reccomend it!

Karl Ronke is the man! I wish all of his books were still in print. If you are into team building/low ropes initiatives, or if you need to get your team communicating and working together this book is for you. Very well written, easy to read and the pictures from the '80s are hilarious!

This is one of the most useful books in the Adventure Education field - both as a resource for those new to the field, and as a constant reference for those more experienced. I have used many of the games and dynamics for youth of all ages.