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A review by ninjalawyer
We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations That Matter by Celeste Headlee
2.0
A short book that I couldn’t stop putting down. I grabbed this after hearing an interview with the author on a podcast, and wish I hadn’t.
Despite its shortness, the author doesn’t really offer enough interesting points on having better conversations to fill it. Instead, the book is crammed with study after scientific study, which would be fine except:
1) the studies often add nothing and, at least in some cases, seem to be mentioned only to hit a word count.
2) I get the impression that the author’s just using the gloss of science to give what would otherwise be totally banal advice more gravitas.
3) I have no reason to trust that the author knows how to read and interpret scientific studies. Maybe she does, but the depth she goes into on any one study is basically at the level of catchy Buzzfeed headline.
There’s a few good bits, and when the author uses an anecdote rather than a study things improve, but the book is just too full of cruft to recommend to anyone.
Despite its shortness, the author doesn’t really offer enough interesting points on having better conversations to fill it. Instead, the book is crammed with study after scientific study, which would be fine except:
1) the studies often add nothing and, at least in some cases, seem to be mentioned only to hit a word count.
2) I get the impression that the author’s just using the gloss of science to give what would otherwise be totally banal advice more gravitas.
3) I have no reason to trust that the author knows how to read and interpret scientific studies. Maybe she does, but the depth she goes into on any one study is basically at the level of catchy Buzzfeed headline.
There’s a few good bits, and when the author uses an anecdote rather than a study things improve, but the book is just too full of cruft to recommend to anyone.