I read this as an ebook from the library. Very thought provoking and insightful! I am ordering a hard copy for myself to read again and to refer back to. Highly recommend. ( )

This is a book about resolving conflicts and finding peace in your relationships at home, your place of work or even in conflicts between nations. .
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I was a bit doubtful about picking up a book written by an institute and when I read what it promises to do it seemed even more sketchy but I picked it up anyways. I read a few pages and had to stop because of some academic engagement and got back to it recently.
This book is a bit different as it uses fictional characters to present its subject. The book talks about a rehabilitation camp for young people, called “Camp Moriah”(named after the famous Mt Moriah). It’s run by Yusuf-al-Salah and Avi Rozen, an unlikely duo of a Muslim from Jordan and a devout Jewish man from Israel whose fathers were killed in conflicts of their own community with the other’s. A bunch of parents and their children arrive at the camp and the parents are asked to stay for two days for an orientation. The message of the book is put forward during this period.
The book talks about how people can carry out their actions with either a heart at peace or a heart at war. The book teaches us to view others are people like us and not as objects in the face of conflict. It talks about how we can change our way of being and help our heart be at peace and be the catalyst for a change in a conflict or a person instead of invoking the behaviour or issue that we are trying to end in the first place. The book even used examples by giving us stories of each of these parents, especially Lou Herbert, an ex military man whose sun has a serious substance abuse problem.
We are taught using certain diagrams and these examples to help make things go right in a situation where a conflict arises rather than correcting someone or blaming them for causing us discomfort.
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Overall, I liked the book. It was a bit boring in between but it has a really good message. I have given it 3.5 stars on Goodreads. I would say it’s a really good read and definitely pick it up. ( )

The material was good but the presentation wasn't my favorite. I have a hard time with fictionalized non-fiction. ( )

This book is a story of a business executive. His business is falling apart, his son is on drugs, and his marriage is nothing to brag about. It reminds me of [b:The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement|113934|The Goal A Process of Ongoing Improvement|Eliyahu M. Goldratt|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347617564s/113934.jpg|462428]. It is an engaging read and has a lesson that I would do well to apply. ( )

An application of the dangers of self-deception message promoted by the Arbinger Institute, this time in terms of all sorts of relationships, from family members to among nation-states.

The information is set forth in yet another campy narrative; if you're following the story, it's all technically a flashback to the transformation of Lou Herbert who would go on to transform his company and lead to the context of Leadership and Self-Deception. Lou is learning about self-deception and blaming and its effects from Yusuf and Avi in the context of a boot camp to rehabilitate troubled youth.

If anything I felt the presentation in The Anatomy of Peace felt more compelling and relevant since it was taken out of the workplace context (as in Leadership and Self-Deception). There is much to be gained from the premise of getting "out of the box" to see people as such, and not objects, to be warm toward them and work with them for their benefit, not merely yours.

As with Leadership and Self-Deception, so with The Anatomy of Peace: you have to get past the campy story that seems to follow extremely similar tropes, while understanding that it has to be told as a story or most people wouldn't get far in it. I'm still bothered that a book that's trying to humanize relationships is not even claimed by a human but by a rather impersonal Institute.

It would seem to me that the Arbinger Institute's emphasis on self-deception and the value of escaping it reflects a more masculine / conservative / libertarian perspective on what is becoming popular in feminine / liberal perspectives as vulnerability. There is certainly something to be gained from each perspective. ( )