The art of small talk Book

This book is an excellent complement to Deborah Tannen's other book. It is less about gender, and more about how pacing, volume, and many other stylistic elements of conversation communicate more loudly than our words. These elements can form the basis of unfounded accusations about character if they remain unrecognized. If they are recognized, and at least one conversational partner can exercise stylistic flexibility, then improved communication can occur and peoples' underlying personalities - rather than their cultural habits of communication - can be discovered. It provides extremely helpful insight into the things that make many of our conversations stall with awkward miscues, while others click along with well-matched enthusiasm.