On Dialogue (Paperback)

by David Bohm (Author) "During the past few decades, modern technology, with radio, television, air travel, and satellites, has woven a network of communications which puts each part of..." (more)
Key Phrases: literal thought, tacit process, tacit level (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"During the past few decades, modern technology, with radio, television, air travel and satellites has woven a network of communications which puts each part of the world into almost instant contact with all the other parts. Yet, in spite of this world-wide system of linkages, there is, at every moment, a general feeling that communication is breaking down everywhere, on an unparalleled scale."

The question of how we can communicate better is at the heart of On Dialogue. This revised and expanded edition is the most comprehensive documentation to date of best-selling author David Bohm's dialogical world view.

About the Author
The late David Bohm, one of the greatest physicists and foremost thinkers this century, was Fellow of the Royal Society and Emeritus Professor of Physics at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Lee Nichol is a freelance writer and editor, and part of the David Bohm Seminar group.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 4, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415149126
• ISBN-13: 978-0415149129
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #649,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As usual a superb book., September 17, 2001

By	Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bohm has a certain style in his writing which makes him stand out from others who write on similar topics. One aspect is his willingness to suspend his own viewpoint, at least to some degree, by introducing his approach to communication on an intimate level. This does not mean the kind of intimacy between lovers but it is of the same kind. What does this mean ? It means that it is communication without the presence of walls/barriers which interfere with the ability of one person to give rise to the same meaning in the mind of the other. This is the essence of communication at its most basic. The 'normal' mode of cummunication which takes place between people nowadays is way short of this ideal. The social barriers and thought constructions which are firmly embedded in the mind of most induce various automatic or reflex reactions when questions or comments are made which are in some way outside of the "allowed" list. These reactions can vary from fear, the most common, to anger and eventually in extreme cases to violence. How do they arise ? Through purely reflex reactions generated from countless experiences which promote a protective response because of the "existence" of the self. I say existence in inverted commas because Bohm denies this has any reality. Bohm uses his dialogue mode of communication to let people face their thought reflexes and stay with them ie staying aware while their mind and body undergoes its automatic reactions. Only this allows the mind to go beyond these usually unconscious reactions and proceed into a place where creation can occur. This means the creations of new ideas rather than a fallback into the old ones. This form of communication is far from easy to undergo and reactions of fear would be common as would eventual anger and frustrations as the self attempts to dominate in some way by either trying to control the dialogue or hide from it. This is overcome by staying with the discomfort until it dissipates by itself.

Dialogue offers much more than the current ways of communication such as discussions or negotiations which never face the serious issues. Bohm stresses the pathless approach, ie one where no direct goal is provided and no leader selected. This has some similarity to tribal councils practised by native Americans for example.

In this book Bohm through examples and ideas develops this mode to something useful for all of society. Bohm always leaves room for ideas to be generated from his own beginnings. As usual a superb book.

74 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To experience a sense of dialogue read this book., September 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: On Dialogue (Library Binding)

Author Bohm, David. Year (1996) Title On Dialogue, Publisher Routledge: New York, NY Pages 95 Comments On Dialogue provides the reader with the feeling of dialogue. The effect while reading is akin to the movement from alpha to beta brain waves. An aura develops around one's thinking and experience that is qualitatively different than usual. It has the feel of the deep night dialogues round the campfire. It engenders thinking on a different level. Read this book if you are interested in the story behind the story on dialogue as mentioned by Senge and if you are attracted to exploring ideas on thinking about thinking. Do not read this book if you are looking for a quick, easy, step by step requiring no egagement process for developing dialogue. The writing style is a flowing narrative. The complexity lies in the topic not in the language usage. Highligts: · A clear understanding of suspending assumptions. · Experiencing the mood of dialogue for self dialogue. · Dialogue means no purpose, no agenda, and not doing anything. · Thought is the problem- it's the ideas that matter. · The importance of observation of content and process. · The introduction to the concept of participatory thought. · The increased understanding of the concept of the implicate order

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bohm and servant-leadership, August 13, 2006

By	Richard W. Cummins (Pasco, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: On Dialogue (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

David Bohm (1996), wrote about proprioception, which is the basically the self-awareness that allows us to realize that our bodies our wired to know when we move them versus being moved by something else. In other words, we know when we have moved our arm or when someone else has moved it. Not so with thoughts and emotions, he said:

"You may get a feeling that you don't like from a thought, and then a second later say, "I've got to get rid of that feeling," but your thought is still there working, especially if it's a thought that you take to be absolutely necessary. . . .

"We could say that practically all of the problems of the human race are due to the fact that thought is not proprioceptive. Thought is constantly creating problems that way and then trying to solve them. But as it tries to solve them it makes it worse because it doesn't notice that it's creating them, and the more it thinks, the more problems it creates--because it's not proprioceptive of wht it's doing. If your body were that way you would very quickly come to grief and you wouldn't last very long. And it may be said that if our culture were that way, our civilization would not last all that long, either" (p. 25).

Bohm's contribution to servant-leadership is his resonance with Greenleaf (2002) on the topics of awareness and responsibility. The latter said that the "servant views any problem in the world as in here, inside oneself, not out there" and that it is not just problems that the self generates and is responsible for because "So it is with joy" as well as trouble (p. 57).