Like others here, I found the book study to be mainly good but a bit of a pain. IT WAS a pain to have to prepare (sometimes ad nauseum) the assignment, get all dressed up, travel over to the publisher's home, and at times have to quickly find someone to substitute for the reader when he'd bow out at the last minute.
One the other hand, IT WAS the best socializing at any meeting. One didn't even have to go out afterward. If you had a good host home, you could just stay and socialize. More than any other meeting the friends would let their hair down and be themselves. I found more genuine love there than at the KH. The asshole elders weren't there either and I could control what went on and do things that some of them would object to, you know, really evil things like have the brothers take their jackets and ties off after the study was over, laugh, play music, eat and drink. It was a great time to talk with the publishers, get their input and find out their needs, make plans for the future, etc. IT WAS THE MOST HUMANE MEETING BY FAR. Perhaps most important from a biblical standpoint, it was the meeting most like the way the earliest Christians met. That explains the result that it was the most loving meeting. It likely also explains why it was done away with!
In sum then, the good far outweighs the bad and thus I must agree with Watson:
As an organization, I think it was one of the worst moves the[y] have made.
Good thread, truthseeker!