Reviews for Donkey bridges for developmental TA

The average rating for Donkey bridges for developmental TA based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-25 00:00:00 Karen Hirsch It doesn't matter that it has a stupid title and an irrational founding cosmology: these are great communication techniques. This book goes far beyond the generic 'I-statements' and 'active listening' ideas that you already know: you'll be surprised, and you'll learn something. At the core of Ellison's ideas are things they should have taught me in grade school instead of teaching contrition: what a real question looks like, and how to ask it without sounding pushy; how to make a vulnerable and honest statement about your feelings while still protecting your boundaries; how to stop using rhetoric to try to persuade someone else, and instead make careful predictions about how you will respond to their choices. But before all of this, Ellison goes through the communication techniques that she labels as defensive: all the clever ways we've developed to 'win' a conversation. You're guaranteed to feel defensive reading this. She even pegged my penchant to ask so many questions you never have to reveal anything about yourself as just another form of evasion and withdrawal. 'But,' I sometimes thought, 'aren't there times for evasion and withdrawal? Aren't there times for a well-honed attack?' I still think there probably are. There are surely people we need to escape and people who deserve a tongue-lashing. But when I think carefully about my own conflicts, I concede: all of these would be better served by powerful non-defensive communication than they would be by that great zinger that'll really show 'em . . . The writing style is bland, but comes with this benefit: most of the time, Ellison takes her idea seriously that one shouldn't attempt to use rhetoric to persuade someone to think like them. This means she avoids a lot of the cheap tricks other self-help-ish authors use to make you like them and think like them (which is one of the central ingredients of 'smarm'). A note on cosmology: Ellison presents the idea that non-defensiveness is a new step in some kind of teleologically-oriented evolutionary path. Obviously this is not how evolution works. And speaking of science: all of her examples are drawn from personal experience and anecdotes shared by others -- the book doesn't contain any scholarly work about different communication styles and the general consequences. Even with this, I would highly recommend that others read the book, or spend some time on www.pndc.com and start using these techniques.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-02-16 00:00:00 Geni Carrell Very powerful tools & eyeopeners that can help nearly anyone be more concise, effective and neutral in potentially adversarial situations. Includes real life scenarios to help solidify techniques in the reader's mind, helping to cement the skills learned so they become more natural and automatic.