How To Know a Person

I liked David’s previous book... but this one is even better. His key premise is one I haven't found elsewhere: that conversational and social skills aren't just innate traits—they can be learned and improved upon... It’s more than a guide to better conversations; it’s a blueprint for a more connected and humane way of living. -- Bill Gates * 5 Great Things To Read and Watch this summer * Original and useful… Brooks is a chatty, likeable guide * The TLS * A hands-on guide to making meaningful human connections * Kirkus Reviews * It really is a manual for our times - and everyone should read it -- Matthew D'Ancona He writes brilliantly… charming and enthusiastic… [Brooks] offers easily digestible advice to give the reader constructive and practical tools for genuinely listening and having better interpersonal conversations * Church Times * David Brooks's superb new book * The New European * I raced through the book, which is well-structured and engagingly written, and afterwards found myself making a greater effort in conversations. At the school gates, I swapped my formulaic how-are-yous for questions that invite a more genuine response, sometimes simply: “How’s your day been?” I became more alert to my bad habit of “topping” – when someone confides in you and you top it with a sob story of your own. I made tiny changes, things that friends would be unlikely to notice – and yet the difference was transformative -- Sophie McBain * The New Statesman * How to Know A Person offers a series of well-wrought stories and punchy reflections on relationship-building * Church Times *