‘Read this fascinating book and you’ll become a better listener, a better conversationalist and better company’ Adam Kay
‘A brilliant book on the art of conversation’ Matt Haig
‘A compulsory book for these divided times’ Sathnam Sanghera
‘An intriguing exploration of the importance of a proper chinwag’ Sara Cox
‘A terrific book from a terrific broadcaster. Worryingly good” Jeremy Vine
‘An insightful, important read’ Stacey Dooley
‘A genuinely brilliant broadcaster’ Matthew Syed
‘A masterly book’ Matthew d’Ancona
‘Brilliant in the year and just as brilliant on the page’ Anita Anand
‘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
…
How do you talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?
What happens in the brain when we’re having a good conversation?
What have smartphones done to how we connect?
Conversations are broken. And while effective dialogue is supposed to lead to greater fulfilment in our personal and professional lives, all the scientific evidence points towards us sharing fewer interactions than previous generations. From ever decreasing face-to-face meetings to echo chambers online, we no longer have the necessary tools to talk to each other.
Nihal Arthanayake is bucking this trend. As the world becomes increasingly more fractured, he has built a platform of 1.2 million listeners a week on BBC Radio 5 Live who regard him as one of the best people of his generation at having public conversations. Guests from the world’s biggest stars to leaders of inner-city gangs have lauded his seemingly innate ability to stimulate positive discussions without the need for confrontation. Now he wants to understand how he developed his skills, what it exactly means to have a ‘great conversation’ and, most importantly, how he can teach us to have better interactions in our everyday lives.
Let’s Talk blends Nihal’s experiences as an acclaimed interviewer with expert and celebrity opinion on the secrets and psychology behind successful communication. From tracing the evolution of dialogue to discovering what lights up in the brain when we’re enjoying a good discussion, Nihal speaks to conversational authorities including Lorraine Kelly, former president of Ireland Mary McAleese, Professor Tanya Byron, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari, Matthew Syed, and many more, to find out why good conversation has eroded over time and how we can fix it.
Part how-to and part manifesto, Let’s Talk is Nihal’s accessible, anecdotal and invigorating toolkit to having better conversations with anyone, any time.
‘A brilliant book on the art of conversation’ Matt Haig
‘A compulsory book for these divided times’ Sathnam Sanghera
‘An intriguing exploration of the importance of a proper chinwag’ Sara Cox
‘A terrific book from a terrific broadcaster. Worryingly good” Jeremy Vine
‘An insightful, important read’ Stacey Dooley
‘A genuinely brilliant broadcaster’ Matthew Syed
‘A masterly book’ Matthew d’Ancona
‘Brilliant in the year and just as brilliant on the page’ Anita Anand
‘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
…
How do you talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?
What happens in the brain when we’re having a good conversation?
What have smartphones done to how we connect?
Conversations are broken. And while effective dialogue is supposed to lead to greater fulfilment in our personal and professional lives, all the scientific evidence points towards us sharing fewer interactions than previous generations. From ever decreasing face-to-face meetings to echo chambers online, we no longer have the necessary tools to talk to each other.
Nihal Arthanayake is bucking this trend. As the world becomes increasingly more fractured, he has built a platform of 1.2 million listeners a week on BBC Radio 5 Live who regard him as one of the best people of his generation at having public conversations. Guests from the world’s biggest stars to leaders of inner-city gangs have lauded his seemingly innate ability to stimulate positive discussions without the need for confrontation. Now he wants to understand how he developed his skills, what it exactly means to have a ‘great conversation’ and, most importantly, how he can teach us to have better interactions in our everyday lives.
Let’s Talk blends Nihal’s experiences as an acclaimed interviewer with expert and celebrity opinion on the secrets and psychology behind successful communication. From tracing the evolution of dialogue to discovering what lights up in the brain when we’re enjoying a good discussion, Nihal speaks to conversational authorities including Lorraine Kelly, former president of Ireland Mary McAleese, Professor Tanya Byron, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari, Matthew Syed, and many more, to find out why good conversation has eroded over time and how we can fix it.
Part how-to and part manifesto, Let’s Talk is Nihal’s accessible, anecdotal and invigorating toolkit to having better conversations with anyone, any time.
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Reviews
A brilliant book on the art of conversation. It is entirely from the heart, an impassioned please for more meaningful conversation amid this era of online squabbling and all too easy animosity. This isn't some half-hearted celeb effort . . . a very impassioned defence of conversation as an art and one of the things that can save and retain our humanity in a world of GIFs and emojis and fifteen second digital dopamine hits. Nihal writes as well as he chats and this book is great -- Matt Haig, bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive
I'd like to say what a great broadcaster Nihal is. Well on his way to becoming a national treasure. Informed, open-minded, fair, astute, caring and funny. A dying breed -- Ricky Gervais
An insightful, important read -- Stacey Dooley, bestselling author of On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back
Nihal is nothing less than the most intelligent interviewer in British broadcasting, so I had high expectations for his book on conversations, and it doesn't disappoint. It's clever, original, surprising and reading it made me appreciate why he is so good at what he does - he actually listens to the people he consults. A compulsory book for these divided times -- Sathnam Sanghera, bestselling author of Empireland
An intriguing exploration of the importance of a proper chinwag by one of our most brilliant broadcasters -- Sara Cox, bestselling author of Till the Cows Come Home
Turns out when he's interviewing all those amazing folk on 5 Live he's taking it all in and constructing a grand theory of conversation -- Dan Snow, host of the History Hit podcast and author of On This Day in History
A genuinely brilliant broadcaster -- Matthew Syed, bestselling author of Rebel Ideas
We're not currently in the golden era of conversation - it has either eroded away into emojis or escalated into online wildfires. 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. Read this fascinating book and you'll become a better listener, a better conversationalist and better company -- Adam Kay, bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt
Fascinating and thought-provoking -- Jane Fallon, author of 11 Sunday Times Top 10 Bestsellers
There is no more important task today than improving the conversations we all have. And there is nobody better to guide us than Nihal Arthanayake -- Matthew d'Ancona, author of Post Truth
You won't want to check your phone while you're reading this. Nihal hits the nail on the head - again, and again, and again. Breaking news: conversation isn't shouting at a crowd on social media. Nihal has rediscovered the art and we are all winners as a result. A terrific book from a terrific broadcaster. Worryingly good -- Jeremy Vine, author of What I Learnt
Brilliant in the ear and just as brilliant on the page. Nihal has produced a fascinating, informative and nuanced look at the very nature and need for conversation. To read him is to get a lesson from a master practitioner of the art -- Anita Anand, author of The Patient Assassin
The conversation king -- Laura Whitmore, bestselling author of No One Can Change Your Life Except For You