BELONG by Radha Agrawal is subtitled Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life. Radha describes creating those connections in two broad sections, Going In (discussing Epiphany, Self-awareness and Intention) and Going Out (on Nurturing Community, Friendship Cycle, being a Master Citizen and more). Throughout the text, Radha includes some helpful prompts like the questions to consider after plotting your life history. She shares suggested actions (including 10 ways to nurture your community), offers diagrams (like outlining values, interests and abilities), and creates numerous acronyms to help trigger belongingness. This book, filled with Radha's youthful energy, could have useful insights for our students (including topics like one's own mean girls, labeling and bingeing) – perhaps applying most in advisory (homeroom) or health classes. However, her target audience seems to mainly be people in their 20s or 30s. For example, there is a section promoting an event called “good drinks” which seems at least one suggestion counter to actions we are trying to instill or reinforce at school. Therefore, I am curious to see a print copy of BELONG and to then share it, if appropriate, with teachers.

I think I would have benefitted more from this if I'd read it in my early 20s...not that I had any wherewithal about what "community" really meant at that age. I operated much like Agrawal's own description of her 20s (sans the high-powered corporate job). As it stands now at 36, none of this came as news to me. I was hoping for a few new insights, but came up short. This is not to say that there isn't any merit here. Agrawal provides a lot of insight and great exercises to help readers explore their needs, and the illustrated format makes for a fun read. I also appreciate that Agrawal is very much trying to create her brand here as "Community Architect," though the amount of acronyms and catchphrases grew pretty tiring pretty quickly. I guess I realized I already have the tools I need to create community. Not too shabby.

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Many thanks to Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for this advanced copy.

In this media saturated world, the pendulum is swinging and Radha Agrawal's transformational guide book to belonging is here to catch you and gently lead you towards community and a more connected life.  A must read and an invitation to pause, reflect and find your people..

I was given an advanced copy through Netgalley for my review. I would highly recommend this book to family and friends and will buy a copy for myself.

a book that's fun to read, easy to digest, and embodies deep wisdom. Radha is that friend whispering in your ear, assuring you that not only does she understand your feelings of loneliness and your wish to belong

Well written discussion on building your own community for a sense of belonging. Interesting exercises and discussions of the importance of community in our lives, and cycles of friendship.

Did you know that one in four Americans report that they have zero friends to confide in and discuss important matters with. Or that having poor social connections is as bad as being an alcoholic and twice as bad at being obese. This is just the tip of what Agrawal addresses with her new release <b><i> Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life.</b></i>

Belong is a resource guide for the masses. In an age where humans are more connected than ever, Agrawal confronts the isolation epidemic that no one wants to talk about. The fun formatting and structure along with colorful graphics does a lot to lighten up a pretty serious problem without making it feel overwhelming and heavy.

What Agrawal does well with Belong is that she lays the foundation to show people how to build a community in which they can thrive. She does this in a variety of ways. She has updated Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs by creating <i>Agrawal's Hierarchy of Needs </i> showing how community is a vital ingredient at every stage. Now a lot of you fundamentalists will probably scoff at this but it is a great modern take on an age-old problem. She also has writing prompts for you to reflect on and check in with yourself varying from things like emotional satisfaction to the energy you radiate. With Belong, you will get a blueprint to build and nurture your own community from scratch to achieve happiness, fulfillment and success and be able to customize this suit your individual needs and desires.

I had been looking for a book like "Belong" for a while, and I was delighted when I found that Radha Agrawal had created the book I had been seeking. The author did a fantastic job of explaining the significance of true community as well as discussing how we first need to belong to *ourselves* - a tricky but essential concept! She inspired me to create my own tribe. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book so much. It showed the importance of the affect technology has on society and how much it isolated people from the world.

This book about friendship was lovely; much better than I anticipated. The design of the book is beautiful, and the advice contained within goes far beyond the usual tips for making friends. Agrawal suggests that you go IN first and gently deal with your own baggage, discovering what kind of friends you’re looking for and what kind of friends you need to distance yourself from, before you go OUT and find these people in the real world. Some of her advice wasn’t great (I couldn’t fathom why the author is so against identifying as an introvert or extrovert when this can be such a helpful tool in understanding personality, especially since both types clearly want and need friends), but on the whole, I greatly enjoyed the book. If you want a book about making friends that avoids cliches and has a lovely design, I highly recommend this one.

I loved the message of Belong. We need more community and we are desperate for connection, so any tool or resource that supports that mission is a highly needed product. I struggled with truly enjoying Belong because so much of it was interactive and I was given the Ebook version. I plan to reevaluate my review once I have the book in my hands to explore both the written content and the interactive exercises that I think will enrich the quality of the book.

I cannot get this book to download as it is not supported in kindle format. I am new to this site and need to look at the page before I download books more closely next time. Sorry!

I enjoyed this book very much! The message is wise, the tone authentic, the illustration beautiful and engaging. It was a joy to read.