This would not be a book I'd normally pick up. It was on a list from a well respected digeratti several months before it came out as they had reviewed it. I was first on my library list to reserve it then, and when it finally arrived for me, there were 60 other people waiting on the book. I had not read any of the author's previous work, but did recognize his name.

That said, I really liked this book. What can one learn about communicating from reading versus actual practice and coaching? Hard to say. He lays out a case here of three different conversation types, provides and integrates several stories he discovered in his research (surgeon, NASA, Netflix, doctors, etc) and discusses each.

I took several pages of notes for my future referrals. I did appreciate the book, and took special note of the chapter on difficult discussions which I thought was very well done (extra notes taken here). I do think a bit too much time was spent on his Netflix topic.

All in all, I really enjoyed it and learned a bunch. I'll use my notes to cement these ideas in coming months. Now I have to go practice on my family ...