Book Review: Anthony Blake DuVersity Publications 2008       Price £15 from www.duversity.org

Dialogue is a special kind of interaction between people – amounting to much more than conversation or discussion.  It crops up in management literature and practice but, as a process for exploring deep meaning, is often treated superficially.  Blake is uniquely qualified to scan the whole field, having studied aspects of Dialogue over many decades.  He thus brings a critical and discerning eye to his observations and insights.  

He ranges between the innovators and leading lights of Dialogue in a historical context, making valuable comparisons and contributing to our understanding.  The overall thesis that, as meaning lies between entities, Dialogue is fundamental to discovering the structures of meaning that constitute our culture and our society.  Only so far as we enter into Dialogue can those structures evolve to accommodate emergent issues or enable us to grapple with complexity.  Where conventional discourse, largely conditioned by a reductionist perspective, fails to deal with our realities, Dialogue offers hope. 

A perhaps surprising conclusion is that Logovisual Technology (LVT) is a form of dialogue process, making visible some of the patterns and structures of meaning.  Evolved from Structural Communication, LVT may be a significant methodology for making a new world.  

A valuable exploration of a fascinating subject, this book is recommended heartily to anyone with a serious interest in organisational learning.

The Supreme Art Of Dialogue