If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?

If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face‪?‬

My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating

    • 4.2 • 33 Ratings
    • $4.99
    • $4.99

Publisher Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Award-winning actor Alan Alda tells the fascinating story of his quest to learn how to communicate better, and to teach others to do the same. With his trademark humor and candor, he explores how to develop empathy as the key factor.

“Invaluable.”—Deborah Tannen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of You’re the Only One I Can Tell and You Just Don’t Understand

Alan Alda has been on a decades-long journey to discover new ways to help people communicate and relate to one another more effectively. If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? is the warm, witty, and informative chronicle of how Alda found inspiration in everything from cutting-edge science to classic acting methods. His search began when he was host of PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers, where he interviewed thousands of scientists and developed a knack for helping them communicate complex ideas in ways a wide audience could understand—and Alda wondered if those techniques held a clue to better communication for the rest of us.

In his wry and wise voice, Alda reflects on moments of miscommunication in his own life, when an absence of understanding resulted in problems both big and small. He guides us through his discoveries, showing how communication can be improved through learning to relate to the other person: listening with our eyes, looking for clues in another’s face, using the power of a compelling story, avoiding jargon, and reading another person so well that you become “in sync” with them, and know what they are thinking and feeling—especially when you’re talking about the hard stuff.

Drawing on improvisation training, theater, and storytelling techniques from a life of acting, and with insights from recent scientific studies, Alda describes ways we can build empathy, nurture our innate mind-reading abilities, and improve the way we relate and talk with others. Exploring empathy-boosting games and exercises, If I Understood You is a funny, thought-provoking guide that can be used by all of us, in every aspect of our lives—with our friends, lovers, and families, with our doctors, in business settings, and beyond.

“Alda uses his trademark humor and a well-honed ability to get to the point, to help us all learn how to leverage the better communicator inside each of us.”—Forbes

“Alda, with his laudable curiosity, has learned something you and I can use right now.”—Charlie Rose

GENRE
Health, Mind & Body
RELEASED
2017
June 6
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
240
Pages
PUBLISHER
Random House Publishing Group
SELLER
Penguin Random House LLC
SIZE
9.1
MB

Customer Reviews

RonnieLedesma ,

A fantastic and entertaining intro to empathy...

A fantastic and entertaining intro to empathy for anyone working to become more empathic/empathetic.

KevinFreiert ,

An Excellent Read

Let me tell you a story. I recently launched a business to help patients be more effective advocates and to be an active part of bio pharmaceutical R&D. One of the biggest challenges is cutting through all the jargon. Language itself becomes a barrier. Alan Alda brings his passion and experience to meeting this challenge. He opened my eyes to many factors I had not considered.

bbalser ,

Fantastic Book About Communication

For anyone interested in human communication; actors, sales folks, writers, parents, techers, bosses, employees, anyone who speaks, this is a very easy and quick read, full of great information. Can’t say enough about it.

More Books by Alan Alda

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed Never Have Your Dog Stuffed
2005
Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
2007

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