In conclusion, “Let’s Talk: How to Have Better Conversations” is a book that gives us insight into why conversations, even the most difficult, as ones that are worth having, I leave you with a quote from one of our previous book club authors, Matt Haig “ A very impassioned defence of conversation as an art”. Never heard of Arthanayake before (or his *star-studded* career) and a lot of this read like a high school essay. Nihal is a master of the art of conversation, one of the country's finest and smartest interviewers, and his book is both brilliant and necessary. Worryingly good'' Jeremy Vine'An insightful, important read' Stacey Dooley'A genuinely brilliant broadcaster' Matthew Syed'Fascinating and thought-provoking' Jane Fallon'Informed, open-minded, fair, astute, caring and funny' Ricky Gervais 'A grand theory of conversation' Dan Snow'The conversation king' Laura Whitmore .

The most valuable conversations themselves are spaces where the participants give over a part of themselves to each other to explore, illuminate and connect" Nihal makes communication natual and accessible to all.That being said, Arthanyake conducted some great interviews for the book and I enjoyed many of his/their insights into conversations and the psychology around the subject. One of broadcasting's most adept conductors of public conversation, Arthanayake probes what makes for productive discourse in this eye-opening volume committed to enhancing the quality of debate in modern society. It’s a very personal anecdotal take on conversation, the basic principles are ones that have been repeated in various places so nothing really enlightening. When I first heard him interviewing someone, I genuinely thought he had forgotten his train of thought, the pauses and space between the interviewees conversation and his was something I’d never heard on radio before. I enjoyed the fact that the author narrated the audiobook himself and it featured snippets of his interviews with some of the interesting people he talks to at work.

To read him is to get a lesson from a master practitioner of the art -- Anita Anand, author of The Patient Assassin You may also be interested in.

From tracing the evolution of dialogue to discovering what lights up in the brain when we're enjoying a good discussion, Nihal speaks to the experts - from the board room to the criminal courts - to find why good conversation has eroded over time and how we can fix it. In August 2022 he came to Intelligence Squared to discuss his new book Let’s Talk, which explores the evolution of dialogue and the science behind stimulating conversation. I read this at the same time as Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers and despite the books being on a similar topic/approach, this is hands down the better of the two.