Author Guide · Nonviolent Communication
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For two years in Minnesota, legislators, lobbyists, lawyers, judges and child-development experts who had been fighting over child custody law sat in the same process, run by Miki Kashtan, and came out with a near-unanimous bill. Kashtan, an Israeli-born sociologist with a PhD from UC Berkeley, has been a certified trainer in Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication since 1998, and in 2002 co-founded Bay Area Nonviolent Communication with her sister Inbal. Her books carry NVC from conversations between two people to groups, organisations and whole societies: a book on personal practice, a book of short reflections, a book that mixes fiction with social theory, and a manual for group decisions. This guide covers her four key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2014–2020 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Miki Kashtan has written four books: Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness (2014), The Little Book of Courageous Living (2014), Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015) and The Highest Common Denominator (2020), the book on her Convergent Facilitation method. Start with The Little Book of Courageous Living: its short reflections give the core of her thinking before the longer books build on it.
Where to Start with Miki Kashtan
If you want a short way in
→ The Little Book of Courageous Living (2014) — brief reflections you can read in any order.
If you want personal practice in depth
→ Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness (2014) — her first and longest book.
If you want her picture of a nonviolent society
→ Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015) — stories set in that future, with essays on getting there.
If you want to run better group decisions
→ The Highest Common Denominator (2020) — the Convergent Facilitation method, step by step.
4 Miki Kashtan Books, in Order
Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness
Her first book, published by her own Fearless Heart Publications and running to more than 400 pages. It applies the Nonviolent Communication focus on human needs and values to individual life, arguing that people can act with integrity and choice in a world shaped by what she calls the legacy of separation.
The Little Book of Courageous Living
A collection of about 200 short, illustrated reflections on living with love, courage and honesty as a daily path towards nonviolence. Each piece stands alone, so the book can be read in any order.
Reweaving Our Human Fabric
Kashtan imagines a future organised around generosity, in which people share their gifts and everyday tasks without coercion, and alternates short pieces of social science fiction set in that world with nonfiction on how to get there and how leaders can use power in line with their values. Joanna Macy called it a “brave and brilliant book”.
The Highest Common Denominator
A manual for Convergent Facilitation, the decision-making process she developed as an alternative to majority votes, top-down decisions, compromise and consensus. The method has three phases: gathering the criteria that matter to everyone, building proposals that meet them, and reaching a decision all can accept. The book covers dissent, transparency and power differences in groups, and ends with a case study of the Minnesota child custody legislation.
In What Order to Read Miki Kashtan
The four books do not depend on each other, so you can start with the one that matches what you need. In publication order they move outward: from the inner life in Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness, to everyday courage in The Little Book of Courageous Living, to a whole society in Reweaving Our Human Fabric, to the practical work of group decisions in The Highest Common Denominator.
If you are new to Nonviolent Communication, read Marshall Rosenberg first; Kashtan assumes you know the basics of observations, feelings, needs and requests. If you facilitate meetings for a living, you can go straight to The Highest Common Denominator.
A reading path
1. Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication
2. The Little Book of Courageous Living (2014)
3. Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness (2014)
4. Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015)
5. The Highest Common Denominator (2020)
Everything Else Miki Kashtan Wrote
Beyond the 4 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Academic work
1
1 book · 1990
- 1990Beyond Reason: Reconciling Emotion with Social Theoryher UC Berkeley PhD dissertation in sociology, never published as a book
The years · 1990–2020
Quick facts about Miki Kashtan
- Known for
- Applying Nonviolent Communication to groups and social change, and the Convergent Facilitation method for collaborative decisions
- 1990
- PhD in sociology, UC Berkeley
- 1998
- Certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication
- 2002
- Co-founds Bay Area NVC with her sister Inbal
- Origin
- Israeli native, with roots in Mexico and New York City
- Education
- PhD in sociology, University of California, Berkeley (1990)
- Trainer
- Certified by the Center for Nonviolent Communication since 1998
- Founded
- Bay Area Nonviolent Communication, with her late sister Inbal Kashtan (2002)
- Method
- Convergent Facilitation, a process for group decisions on divisive issues
- Now
- Focused on the Nonviolent Global Liberation community; based in Catalonia, Spain
The red mark is 2020: The Highest Common Denominator, her book on Convergent Facilitation.
How Miki Kashtan Writes: Needs, From the Personal to the Political
Kashtan writes from practice rather than theory. Her starting point is Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, which she has taught since the 1990s, and its claim that conflict can be understood through the human needs behind what people say and do. Her trained sociologist’s eye then turns that idea to institutions, power and how societies are organised.
Her books are built from many short units: blog-length reflections in The Little Book of Courageous Living, alternating stories and essays in Reweaving Our Human Fabric, and numbered principles, phases and worked examples in The Highest Common Denominator. She leans on cases from her own facilitation and mediation work, most fully the two-year Minnesota child custody process, and names the limits of her methods openly.
Her recurring argument is that compromise and majority rule leave needs unmet, and that inviting dissent is how a group reaches a decision everyone can stand behind. For more writers in this tradition, see Authors like Marshall Rosenberg.
Frequently asked questions about Miki Kashtan’s books
How many books has Miki Kashtan written?
Four: Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness (2014), The Little Book of Courageous Living (2014), Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015) and The Highest Common Denominator (2020). She also wrote a PhD dissertation, Beyond Reason (1990), and many articles and learning packets on Nonviolent Communication.
What are Miki Kashtan’s books in order?
Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness (2014), The Little Book of Courageous Living (2014), Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015) and The Highest Common Denominator (2020).
Where should I start with Miki Kashtan?
The Little Book of Courageous Living, a collection of short reflections that can be read in any order. If you facilitate groups, start with The Highest Common Denominator instead.
What is Miki Kashtan’s most famous book?
The Highest Common Denominator (2020), because it sets out Convergent Facilitation, the decision-making method she is best known for. Among Nonviolent Communication readers, Reweaving Our Human Fabric (2015) is also widely read.
What is Convergent Facilitation?
A group decision-making process Kashtan developed from Nonviolent Communication. It has three phases: gathering the criteria that matter to everyone, creating proposals that meet those criteria, and reaching a decision that everyone can wholeheartedly accept. She presents it as an alternative to voting, top-down decisions, compromise and consensus.
What happened with the Minnesota child custody bill?
Kashtan facilitated a working group of people sharply divided over Minnesota’s child custody law. After two years of what she describes as an intensive but non-adversarial process, the group produced a near-unanimous new bill. The case is the final chapter of The Highest Common Denominator.
How is Miki Kashtan connected to Marshall Rosenberg?
She is a certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, the organisation Rosenberg founded, and has been since 1998. Her books apply his Nonviolent Communication to groups, organisations and social change.
Who was Inbal Kashtan?
Miki Kashtan’s late sister, also a Nonviolent Communication trainer. In 2002 the two sisters co-founded Bay Area Nonviolent Communication (BayNVC) in California, and together they created learning packets on NVC.
Is Reweaving Our Human Fabric fiction?
Partly. It alternates short pieces of social science fiction, set in a future organised around generosity and shared needs, with nonfiction chapters on how to move towards that future.
Where does Miki Kashtan live now?
After nearly four decades in the United States, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, she left to travel and learn about liberation and community. She is now based in Catalonia, Spain, where her work centres on the Nonviolent Global Liberation community.
Footnotes
- Miki Kashtan — Center for Nonviolent Communication
- Miki Kashtan — NVC Training
- Miki Kashtan (1990) — UC Berkeley Sociology
- Review essay of The Highest Common Denominator — Self & Society, 2021
- A Blueprint for Collaborative Lawmaking — Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 2016
- Miki Kashtan — Awakin Calls
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Focusing on inviting dissent is key to efficient collaboration.”
— Miki Kashtan, The Highest Common Denominator (2020)
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