Creating a Life Together

"Before aspiring community builders hold their first meeting, confront their first realtor, or drive their first nail, they must buy this essential book: it will improve their chances for success immensely, and will certainly save them money, time, and heartbreak. In her friendly but firm (and occasionally funny) way, Diana Christian proffers an astonishing wealth of practical information and sensible, field-tested advice."
—ERNEST CALLENBACH, AUTHOR, ECOTOPIA AND ECOTOPIA EMERGING

"Wow! The newest, most comprehensive bible for builders of intentional communities. Covers every aspect with vital information and dozens of examples of how successful communities faced the challenges and created their shared lives out of their visions. The cautionary tales of sadder experiences and how communities fail, will help in avoiding the pitfalls. Not since I wrote the Foreword to Ingrid Komar's Living the Dream (1983), which documented the Twin Oaks community, have I seen a more useful and inspiring book on this topic."
—HAZEL HENDERSON, AUTHOR CREATING ALTERNATIVE FUTURES AND POLITICS OF THE SOLAR AGE .

"A really valuable resource for anyone thinking about intentional community. I wish I had it years ago."
—STARHAWK, AUTHOR OF WEBS OF POWER , THE SPIRAL DANCE , AND THE FIFTH SACRED THING , AND LONG-TIME COMMUNITY MEMBER.

"Every potential ecovillager should read it. This book will be an essential guide and manual for the many Permaculture graduates who live in communities or design for them."
—BILL MOLLISON, COFOUNDER OF THE PERMACULTURE MOVEMENT, AND AUTHOR, PERMACULTURE: A DESIGNER'S MANUAL

"Creating a new culture of living peacefully with each other and the planet is our number one need—and this is the right book at the right time. Creating a Life Together will help community founders avoid fatal mistakes. I can't wait to tell people about it."
—HILDUR JACKSON, COFOUNDER, GLOBAL ECOVILLAGE NETWORK (GEN); CO-EDITOR, ECOVILLAGE LIVING: RESTORING THE EARTH AND HER PEOPLE

" Creating a Life Together is a comprehensive, engaging, practical, well-organized, and thoroughly digestible labor of love. Hopefully scores of wannabe community founders and seekers will discover it before they launch their quest for community, and avoid the senseless and sometimes painful lessons that come from trying to reinvent the wheel. This book is a gift to humanity—helping to move forward the elusive quest for community, fueling a quantum leap towards a fulfilling, just, and sustainable future."
—GEOPH KOZENY, PRODUCER/EDITOR OF VIDEO DOCUMENTARY,"VISIONS OF UTOPIA: EXPERIMENTS IN SUSTAINABLE CULTURE"

"While anyone can build a village, a subdivision, or a housing development, the challenge is filling it with people who can get along, who can reach agreements, and who can achieve far more together than they ever could alone. If your aspiring ecovillage or intentional community gets even this far — and this awesome book will show you how — then maybe you have a realistic chance of living sustainably and, by example, of changing the world.My appreciation grows daily for this thorough, practical, and engaging guide."
—ALBERT BATES, DIRECTOR, ECOVILLAGE TRAINING CENTER, AND INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY, ECOVILLAGE NETWORK OF THE AMERICAS.

"Developing a successful community requires a special blend of vision and practicality woven together with wisdom. Consider this book a marvelous mirror. If the abundant, experience-based, practicality in this book delights you then you probably have the wisdom to realize your vision."
—ROBERT GILMAN, FOUNDING EDITOR OF IN CONTEXT, A QUARTERLY OF HUMANE SUSTAINABLE CULTURE, AND AUTHOR OF ECOVILLAGES AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

"So many well intended communities fail because they don't even know the questions to ask, let alone where to find answers. This book offers a wealth of detailed information that will help guide communities to finding what is right for their specific situation, and greatly increase their odds of their success."
—KATHRYN MCCAMANT, COHOUSING RESIDENT, ARCHITECT, AND PROJECT MANAGER, AND AUTHOR OF COHOUSING