Alison Wood Brooks was hired to teach courses on negotiation at Harvard Business School, but she quickly realized that the concepts of negotiation are applicable beyond business, since every conversation is a "coordination game." She developed a course that forms the basis for Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, a captivating exploration of the dynamics of conversation with advice on improving conversational skills.
Brooks uses anecdotes from history, her personal life, and her students' experiences to address the skepticism many might feel about approaching casual interactions among friends as a science with rules that can be learned. Brooks makes a convincing case that forethought and strategy enhance each encounter, rather than turning informal chats into stilted affairs. Then, she outlines the four maxims of her TALK framework: topics, asking, levity, and kindness. The final three chapters take readers into more complex situations, such as conversations among large groups where coordination seems impossible, conversations about difficult or controversial topics, and conversations centering on apologies. The book's appendix includes a series of exercises to help readers put the TALK maxims into practice--to play with them, bend them, and eventually move past needing to consciously think about them. Throughout, Brooks uses a playful tone and several graphs to illustrate the concepts.
Everyone stands to gain from this fun and fascinating book, including people who love conversation, those who dread it, and those with neurodivergent traits. Readers are sure to notice patterns Brooks discusses as they engage in daily routines, and their conversation skills and empathy will inevitably be improved. --Dainy Bernstein, freelance reviewer