The Friends of the Athens-Clarke County Library are hosting Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Celeste Headlee Friday evening.
The host of “On Second Thought” is discussing the decline of conversational skills, a topic she covers in her book, “We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter.” Headlee will discuss the book, practical ways to improve skills, and the reasons for the problem.
“Probably one of the most important being the smart phone that’s in everybody’s hand,” according to Headlee. “I am literally a professional conversationalist but this book grew out of the realization that I wasn’t as good at it as I thought. It was a problem-solving enterprise for me to try to figure out okay, here are the things that I’m screwing up and how do I fix that.”
Headlee offers practical applications in the book.
“I’m not going to give you vague terms like ‘you know, listen more.’ There are very specific things. I’m not trying to philosophize. I’m just saying here’s the problems that we’re having, here’s the science that gives us some enlightenment on what’s causing those problems and how we might fix them and then here’s exactly what you can do today starting immediately. That will help you immediately see results in your conversation.”
A reception and book signing will follow the discussion. The event is 7 o' clock at the library, it is free and open to the public.