I first saw Un-Lonely Planet on Product Hunt. After reading the description and checking out some of the reviews, I immediately became intrigued. Loneliness is indeed a problem throughout much of the global West, exacerbated by our stressful lives, remote work, the gig economy, and a myriad of other factors that will only grow in importance over the coming decade. I'm interested in any ideas that will help to ameliorate this situation, so I bought this book in a heartbeat.
It's not at all what I thought it would be.
Roughly 3/4 of the book consists of the author's own reminisces about events that she attended and enjoyed, TED talks she has watched, and books she has read. Within the first few chapters, it becomes clear that the author's life experiences mostly revolve around New York City and San Francisco—places with such large populations that there is almost always an existing community for any interest that one can tap into.
Un-Lonely Planet could have been vastly improved by focusing less on anecdotes and personal opinions and instead offering more practical advice on how to join, create, and grow communities; organize events; and form friendships as a working adult. It could be improved even more by stepping outside of the bicoastal bubble and considering how someone would approach the problem of loneliness and lack of community in a smaller city or town. A final suggestion would be to reevaluate and challenge the narrative that organized religion is failing to create "healthy congregations." Several of the more interesting anecdotes are about groups that have adopted religious ritual while stripping it of overt religiosity (and arguably much of its meaning). Perhaps it would be of some value to look more deeply to the long-standing traditions of the past in trying to approach today's loneliness crisis.
This book may be of some interest to affluent, secular, jet set types who are looking for the "push" they need to step outside their comfort zone and try out a new group. Beyond that, I'm not sure.
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