What to Talk About: On a Plane, at a Cocktail Party, in a Tiny Elevator with Your Boss's Boss

At first I really liked the light hearted and funny way this was written, but it soon got exhausting. There is a lot of good information in this book. Some interesting conversation starters and nuggets of social wisdom. However, it always felt like it fell short. The author would start getting to an area that I could relate to -- something I was seeking to improve on -- and then would devolve into jokes and examples that you would never actually use in public.Some people might say, "That's the point, in a social situation just say ANYTHING. Say the first thing on your mind". Personally I feel like that doesn't help people with social anxiety. In those situations your mind is blank and you're looking for canned things to go with to get things moving.So I'm left feeling very torn on this book. Some areas were useful and many others left me disappointed.

For example: what to talk about with the mail carrier--one of the suggestions is "How come pornos never feature the mailman, only the UPS guy and the piazza guy." And as an example of small talk would be to ask "Would you sleep with someone in this room--picked at random--for $375,000?"Some of it is interesting and might give others ideas.

I would pay $8 to get this on my kindle (that doesn't exist). But the 50% increase makes the print version it not worth while.This book is small, short, and lacking in substantive content.The authors purport to write a guide on talking to people, but walk the line between practical advice and absurd humor. The problem with it is that people (like me) who are clueless about human interaction don't always know what's a joke, and what isn't. As a result, I didn't learn how to 'go deeper' in my conversations, out of fear of taking their jokes as actual advice.I would love to see this rewritten as a dry, content-heavy manual on having conversations with various people in various situations. But I think that's a tall order.

If you are prone to silliness, then this book -might- be helpful for you. Personally, I find the advice to cold start a conversation hilarious, but it is too flippant in a lot of areas. I'm hard pressed to imagine a wallflower interjecting commentary on who they would sleep with in the room for $375,000. Not really worth the price I paid, and I got the Kindle version.

This is a funny book, laugh out loud in parts. If you are a fan of the "Anchorman" type of humor, you'd get a lot of kicks out of this book. But I bought it because of the title, and as a title promise, it falls short for me. It does have some great party liners and you may even get lucky with a few of the lines. As a how to book though, it can be frustrating. Recommended, but for entertainment purposes only.

I'm an avid study when it comes to better ways to connect with people. So, I bought this immediately when I read about it. At first, I thought it was hilarious. It had me entertained during the beginning part of the book as I was waiting to get to some strong material. The material never came. It's just the creative mind of these writers extended throughout the book without the writers ever giving the principles they use in their creativity. THAT'S what I wanted...their principles for how to bring up subjects. The writers would be classified as steamrollers.

Not quite as good as I'd hoped. Maybe it's just me but I didn't get a lot of use for it, especially for business. Maybe better suited for personal settings.

It was a funny book, but did not live up to it's name. The book may have just been meant to be funny, then it was successful. If they wanted to give people realistic conversations starts for awkward cold start situations then it was not effective

This book is the worse I have ever read. In fact I never finished reading it. This sound like someone who is doing drugs or tripping on acid. Its not professional or common sense, its no way anyone could relate to this suggestions. The person is way out there. Do not waste your money on this. I don't know how something like this ever got published. Pitiful!!!!!

Pleased

die autoren geben interessante tips, die so in normalen rhetorikbüchern nicht drin stehen. dennoch ist der schreibstil sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig. die menge der nützlichen / neuens tips relativ zu buchlänge ist das geld am ende nicht wert. für mich eher von der qualität "polierter blog, der jetzt als buch erscheinen will". das ist vermutlich eine folge von der e-book-isierung von allem (das ist zwar polemisch formuliert, ich fürchte aber, der wahre kern bleibt).

In jedem Fall unterhaltsam geschrieben.Grundsätzlich auch einige umsetzbare Tipps enthalten. Alles in allem sicher kein klassischer Ratgeber. Bezweifele auch, dass man wirklich alle Tipps anwenden sollte.

O livro dá boas dicas de conversas em situações difíceis a maioria das dicas é interessante, mas nem todas vejo como aplicáveis no dia a dia.