About the BookAbout the Book
UPDATE: The paperback of A GOOD TALK has just been released (1/13/2011). It has a good, funny new cover image, hands talking to each other, looking like ducks. Here's hoping that all your conversations in 2011 will be more than just quacking.
The person you're sitting next to at dinner is explaining photosynthesis. Or you notice that she is holding her eyelids open with her thumbs as you discuss soil-moisture ratios. Or he says that Swedish people are dumb, and your mother's maiden name is Inger Svensson. Or you're not sure whether to admit that you are old enough to appreciate banisters. What do you do?
In A GOOD TALK, Daniel Menaker, one of America's most accomplished and personable literary figures, helps you navigate the shallows, reefs, and open seas of conversation. After discussing the origins of language and social talk, this concise and often hilarious take on the most exclusively human of all activities (along with calculus) explains how good conversations work. Focusing on first encounters and a single recorded exchange, the author shows that such talks have four stages: Survey, Discovery, Risk, and Roles. He then addresses the deeper concerns that underlie conversations and their common social dilemmas and opportunities, from insults to instant messaging, from dating to dinner-ordering, from the value of humor to the handling of hubris.
Finally, A GOOD TALK—which is above all a really good read—considers the physical benefits of conversation and its indispensable place in our social, moral, and political lives. It’s a book to enjoy, learn from, and—yes—talk about.
