Crucial Conversations

This book completely changed the way I look at conversations and at human interactions in general. I never got educated on a coherent model of handling difficult conversations and this book has it: before, during, and after.
And it has exercises and examples so that I was able to start applying the knowledge immediately.

If you ever struggled with conversations, this book is for you.

Great content, terrible to read, a lot of filler and self-congratulatory clickbait-y nonsense, occasionally a bit accusatory in tone. Still, I'm glad I read it. Still, I'm hesitant to recommend it, at least not without a lot of caveats. I think the last few chapters did a lot of good to summarize the good stuff and cut down on the noise. Chapter 6 I think was the worst, not in terms of content but in how the writing handled the sensitive subject matter. The research and the tools are so compelling but the book is a slog.

I read the second edition, by the way. Not sure how much has changed from the first.