I thought this was an odd, but succesfull mix of head in the clouds and feet on the ground. Odd, because it continually switches between showing the rewards and the pitfalls of building community. And succesfull, because this impresses on one that there is no getting away from this tension, for instance the observation that putting agreements in writing can actually build trust, that if someone wants to take over your leadership role you should rejoice that you will have time to start a new project, and that "nature also creates communities, in which the development of a highly specific individual is a prerequisite for the functioning of the whole (biotope, etc.)".

A different note. I have been thinking recently of the Latin proverb: Natura non facit saltus. Nature does not make leaps. It's a note that cautions patience. The race between invention and disaster has been going on since time immemorial. Several of the contributors in this book talk about the need and the possibility to build a better society. I do agree. But I also see that the Renaissance, which is often held up as a good example, but did exactly the opposite of what I think is needed now in that it redressed the balance of power from the spiritual/social to the rational/technological, took several centuries.