A Good Talk: The Shape and Skill of Conversation

(Paperback)

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Description

A Good Talk is an analysis of and guide to that most exclusively human of all activities - conversation.

Drawing on over forty years of experience in American letters, Menaker pinpoints the factors that drive and enliven every good conversation: the vagaries (and joys) of subtext; the deeper structure and meaning of conversational flow; the subliminal signals that guide our disclosures and confessions; and the countless other hurdles we must clear along the way. Moving beyond self-help musings and 'how to' advice, he has created a stylish, funny and surprising book: a celebration of 'the most excusively human of all activities'.

In a time when conversation remains deeply important - for building relationships, for relaxing, even for figuring out who we are - and also increasingly imperiled (with Blackberries and texting increasingly in vogue), CAN WE TALK is a refreshing celebration of the subtle adventures of a good conversation.

Reviews

A Good Talk is a great delight.--Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier
Columbo.Mary Roach, author of Stiff
Gail Saltz, M.D. Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, and Today Show Contributor
I might have guessed that Daniel Menaker could talk about talk with the same facility and charm that he can bring to any conversation. Still, A GOOD TALK, his lively analysis of the workings of social speech, comes as a delightful revelation.----Billy Collins, former Poet Laureate of the United States and author of Ballistics

Author Bio

Daniel Menaker has been a part of America's life of letters for almost forty years. As a writer, he has met and talked to thousands of people about their work and their lives. His own writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and Slate.