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That's funny, I'm finding it very hard to personally relate to McKibbin's particulars. From the lack of community interaction he's depicted, to the lost family ties, to the use of radio, I don't encounter the issues I've read about thus far. The fact that I don't recognize the loss of community that McKibbin's describes makes me wonder if that is necessarily a product of economic expansion. Or could it be that economic expansion merely paralleled a breakdown in community, rather than causing it? If this is possible, shouldn't we consider directing efforts at strengthening community rather than in retarding economic expansion, in the hopes that this will strengthen communities. In truth, I am happy that I am able to find and interact with very different communities.

Not reading the book, but wanted to jump in here with a book recommendation. If you are interested in pursuing the idea of the break down of community, Putnum's "Bowling Alone" is an excellent and worth while read. Putnum quantifiably demonstrates the break down of community in America with surprising and somewhat helpless reasons why it has occurred. I would love to see this book and topic expanded on as we continue to see "community" shift from the real world to online. I spend a significantly higher amount of time on online communities than real world neighborhood communities.

How do you feel about that? Some online communities can be very supportive, but others...

Online "communities" are really not even a close substitute for the real thing. Unless you get to know people from the online forum in person, but even in that case the scope of the online forum does not truly match what a real community offers each other. At least I do not feel it is a legitimate substitution as I long to have the type of community I once had (college, living with a big group of people vs. one person, groups and activities I no longer belong to, etc.). There is certainly the potential to develop some sort of community online. But out of all the forums I participate in, I have found the greatest community with people I have met off line to pursue our shared interests in person.

I tend to enjoy making neutral comments at times But in reference to making friends in a real community, I recently relocated two years ago along with my significant other, and we have both had trouble connecting with the local community in our area. The biggest reason seems to be lack of people our age. When there are people our age, we have no shared interests.

This is mostly due to the nature of the region to which we moved. Northeastern Vermont is generally small town based in which everyone knows each other due to families and schools taking such a big part of everyone's lives. When kids graduate from high school or college, they either decide to get married and have kids or more to Burlington or some other city outside of Vermont. Often times those emigrants come back to the area when they want to have kids. This means that most people our age (late 20s) either left the area or have kids and structure their lives around kids. Complicating the issue is the ironic fact that most people that live in the mountains do not partake in outdoor recreation (except for the kids' sports activities or dog walking!). I have found age and common interests to be a huge social barrier to connecting with a community. As much as I long for that community connection, I am content not to pursue having children to attain it

So online communities seem to partially fill a void with like minded folks involved in similar pursuits, hobbies, passions, outdoors activities, etc. But certainly does not substitute the experience of knowing your neighbors and having some folks to hang out with and keep up on local happenings which is missing from our lives.

Even though I am not participating in this reading, I would like to address that McKibben lives in Vermont and probably bases many of his community ideas on the Burlington area. I love Burlington. Having lived in Massachusetts for so long, I consider Burlington a little slice of Cambridge, MA in Vermont. Many also call the city the People's Republic of Burlington which only adds flavor to the comparison. Burlington is an ideal town for many Deep Economy ideas. Without having read the book, I suspect that the idea of "local currency" may have some basis on Burlington's system of local based currency (from what I understand, it hasn't worked out so well). I think it may be a good idea to read McKibben with the perspective of the location McKibben is writing from. Buying local produce is damn easy around here because everyone has a garden. The local weather forecast on our state's NPR station is always keeping folks posted of frost warnings and other such crop issues. Any ways, without having done to much looking into this title, the basis for my suggestion is limited, but I would imagine many of these community building local economy issues would be ideally suited for some areas and totally anathema in others based on local culture.

Totally agree with the poker story. It is an activity that allows people to come together and social but probably is not building many strong social connections. On a similar note, I am a die hard skier. Online communities have allowed me to network, meet, and ski with several other die hards. This has been excellent as the chances of meeting a fellow skier with similar high level ability that charges the terrain I love has been slim to none over the past years as a solo skier. So we plan a few trips, have an awesome day together for seven hours, then go our separate ways. No contact at all during the "off months." So big difference between activity partners and true social networking and community networks. I think the latter involves more partnership and working on a shared commitment. When I used to play trumpet in various bands for example, those organizations had some of the strongest ties between people I have ever been part of.

To the point of McKibben's book, without having read the book, I am sure the issue of communal living is likely addressed and this would be another way of building community in a society dedicated to removing connections. When I lived at College years back, the sense of community living with seven other guys was intense and I still miss it though not something I would want at this point