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2.87 AVERAGE
2.87 AVERAGE
funny
informative
fast-paced
In this book, King outlines all his tips and tricks to keep conversation going. From how to respond to topics you aren't familiar with/passionate about to how to introduce what you truly wish to say, he covers all the basics. He even provides an outline at the end with a short list of all that you've learned throughout the book.
I think that there is some really good material in this book. I work in a very customer-facing position and some of his brainstorming drills are very clever and helpful. It can be very hard to make small talk the same way many times per day, so having go-tos and new ideas in my head is very very useful to keep things fresh. I also appreciated his advice about talking to a reluctant audience as that is so often what I've got to work with in a professional setting.
A lot of this book really rubbed me the wrong way, unfortunately. I felt like there were a lot of inconsistencies and even ideas and suggestions that fully violated previous rules that were outlined. For example, King specifically advises against taboo/sensitive topics, but then spends a whole chapter suggesting s*icide jokes as lighthearted banter. How is that not sensitive or taboo? You really have to know your audience well for jokes like that. Also a lot of his teasing examples are flat-out mean. I fear that this may be an issue of a concept simply translating poorly to text due to the inability to read tone, but I'm not sure. I was just really put off quite a few times in this book.
Overall, I would recommend the beginning few chapters of this book for people who struggle with small talk and are in positions where they have to make it very frequently, but otherwise I'm not sure about this one. Sorry!
I think that there is some really good material in this book. I work in a very customer-facing position and some of his brainstorming drills are very clever and helpful. It can be very hard to make small talk the same way many times per day, so having go-tos and new ideas in my head is very very useful to keep things fresh. I also appreciated his advice about talking to a reluctant audience as that is so often what I've got to work with in a professional setting.
A lot of this book really rubbed me the wrong way, unfortunately. I felt like there were a lot of inconsistencies and even ideas and suggestions that fully violated previous rules that were outlined. For example, King specifically advises against taboo/sensitive topics, but then spends a whole chapter suggesting s*icide jokes as lighthearted banter. How is that not sensitive or taboo? You really have to know your audience well for jokes like that. Also a lot of his teasing examples are flat-out mean. I fear that this may be an issue of a concept simply translating poorly to text due to the inability to read tone, but I'm not sure. I was just really put off quite a few times in this book.
Overall, I would recommend the beginning few chapters of this book for people who struggle with small talk and are in positions where they have to make it very frequently, but otherwise I'm not sure about this one. Sorry!
informative
fast-paced
funny
informative
fast-paced
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
fast-paced
There's nothing witty about this book. It's more like a book about how to have conversations with people, but I wouldn't say all of the advice is actually good or useful. The good advice given is just a summary of stuff I already knew intuitively, but the examples are not great to follow. I think you would do better in conversations without reading this. At least it was a short read and only costs about $4 on Kindle (at the time of writing this).
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
The book has plenty of helpful nuggets. Most I had encountered elsewhere. My biggest issue is that it felt padded with content. Only half the book is actual content, the other half is summaries of the first half. And the first half could be edited down significantly imo, lots of extra fluff.
fast-paced
Very generic and obvious suggestions. Plus, the content feels puffed up.
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced