A Good Talk

Having been involved lately in more than one conversation with people from my past, I am particularly enjoying my new book, A Good Talk (The Story and Skill of Conversation), by Daniel Manaker.

His analysis sounds pretty interesting :The main part of a conversation, particularly with a new acquaintance, establishes some kind of common ground...finding that common ground and then moving beyond often has two stages... the Survey, in which the people involved discuss some important aspects of their identities...(and) Discovery, in which sometimes significant connections are unearthed.... Finally as conversation develops, the two people occasionally and often sporadically take on defined Roles, particularly when there are large age or status or other differences between them: confessor and confessee, adviser and advisee, pursuer and pursuee, hothead and cool cucumber, comic and straight man, new kid and old hand, and so on.

I have read only the first chapter, though, so although the progress of my various conversations certainly parallels his posited stages, the main reason to keep turning the pages is his incredible voice and hilarious sense of humor: I'm going to battle against talking about the dialogic differences between men and women, but sometimes I'm going to lose.  Like right now: Women take longer to say good-bye than men do, and to see the certainty I have on this subject, however anecdotal that certainty  may be, say out loud the name of the punctuations mark at the end of this sentence.

It's irresistible, isn't it?