# Books on community building

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/books-on-community-building/40029>\
**Category:** Community Building\
**Created:** [Fevereiro 23, 2016, 8:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/books-on-community-building/40029 "2016-02-23T08:51:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 5

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**Author:** ![purldator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)\
**Post date:** [Fevereiro 26, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/books-on-community-building/40029/5 "2016-02-26T18:14:12Z")

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@alefattorini mentioned one of my favorite books on the subject; consider this an extra 👍 for Buzzing Communities. @HAWK helps helm [the companion community, Feverbee](https://experts.feverbee.com).

The following two personal suggestions (and favorites) are considered “dry” reading.

That, for someone like me, means “really insightful text requiring tenacity of the subject to digest in a gleeful hyperfocus”.

If you are into community management, these two books are engaging, no matter the diction.

> **[Design to Thrive: Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last:...](https://www.amazon.com/Design-Thrive-Creating-Networks-Communities/dp/0123749212)**
>
> Design to Thrive: Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last \[Howard, Tharon\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Design to Thrive: Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last

> **[Amazon.com: Cultivating Communities of Practice: 9781578513307: Etienne Wenger,...](https://www.amazon.com/Cultivating-Communities-Practice-Etienne-Wenger/dp/1578513308)**
>
> Amazon.com: Cultivating Communities of Practice: 9781578513307: Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, William M. Snyder: Books

_Design To Thrive_ focuses on creating community culture. _Cultivating Communities of Practice_ may entice intranet communities for corporations and those communities built around a subject with a lot of valuable user-driven information lasting beyond the community itself.

And, while this next suggestion and personal favorite is not a book _on_ the subject of community management, it is _highly relevant_ as a logical tangent.

How to manage _yourself_ among a _lot_ of users and staff.

> **[People Can't Drive You Crazy If You Don't Give Them the Keys: How to Improve...](https://www.amazon.com/People-Cant-Drive-Crazy-Dont/dp/080072111X)**
>
> People Can't Drive You Crazy If You Don't Give Them the Keys: How to Improve Relationships, Find More Joy, and Break Free from Other People's Choices and Behaviors \[Dr. Mike Bechtle\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. People Can't...

It focuses on three general options when it comes to someone in your life you feel you can “do without” (air quotes). Choose one.

1. Attempt to change the someone.
2. :dealwithit:
3. Place the someone out of your life, or at least knock them down the lower digits (ie, away from single digits) on your life’s priority list.

This is a very general summary that only teases by a glimmer to the wealth of personal and highly self-empowering info contained in the book.

Also, how to possibly understand situations involving “problem” users. Replace “you”: **People can’t drive your community crazy if your community doesn’t give them the keys.**

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