Book Club with Brian McMinn

Dear IG-Fest colleagues,

The next on-line meeting of the book club will be on Thursday the 31st of July at 6pm (BST), for 2 hours.

The book we will be reviewing is:

The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy by Fritz Perls (1973)

From the cover notes (from my copy) this book came about because Perls “was no longer satisfied with his previous theoretical works” (Ego, Hunger and Aggression, 1947, and Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality, 1952).

Please join us, even if you’ve only read a portion of this book.

These are my suggestions for its operation (these can be shaped by the attendees as we go along):

Brief check-in;

Reminder of brief ground-rules (respect of book and writer, and of each others’ views – although this doesn’t mean liking all aspects of the book or agreeing with views, have your mics off unless you are speaking);

I record the meeting after check-in;

We collectively review a Gestalt therapy related publication (this can range from academically formal to heartfelt);

It is not necessary to have read the whole book, a chapter or two is sufficient. An hour is given over to this (attendees do not have to have read any of the book, although it won’t be much of a review unless at least one person has, other than me);

We then have a short break (10 mins);

In the remaining time someone or a few members share a brief insight, or mini-review, of any therapy related publication they recommend (authors very welcome to introduce and give overviews of their new publications at this point – please inform me prior to meeting);

Someone suggests a Gestalt book to review at the next meeting (can be recent publication or previously published);

Brief check-out.

The recordings are listed by date and the main book title reviewed and available to all IG-Fest members;
(Optional: I get the Zoom AI to provide a summary written review of each session – I imagine AI can easily translate this).

I’m happy to make adjustments to this format as necessary.

If you sign up or reply to me personally (b.d.mcminn@icloud.com) with your email address I will send you the Zoom link a few days before the book club.

Best wishes

Brian McMinn