During his time as the host of the TV show Scientific American Frontiers, Alan Alda became interested in the question of science communication. How could he communicate better with the scientists he was interviewing, and how could they better communicate their ideas to others? From there, he started thinking about the importance of good, effective communication in all sorts of other areas, too: doctors communicating to patients, bosses communicating with employees, and so on. He became convinced that the key to improving communications lay in a simple word: empathy. Understanding one's audience, paying attention to their responses, anticipating their needs, engaging with their emotions, and establishing a sense of connection with them. He also feels that his own experiences as an actor, and especially his experiences with improv, can bring a lot of useful skills to those attempting to improve their ability to communicate, and has set up an organization to share those skills with others.

Most of Alda's points here seem reasonable, even commonsense. I may wonder if he's overhyping the benefits of improv exercises a little bit, but I'm entirely willing to believe he's seen good results from it, and that's pretty cool. He practices what he preaches here, too, writing very clearly with lots of personal anecdotes and accessible stories. And I appreciate that, in presenting both his own anecdotal experiences and the results of actual scientific studies, he does try to be appropriately clear about which is which.

So, in summary: Alda seems like a good guy, has some good ideas about a subject I agree is important, seems to be accomplishing something with them, and explains them in easy-to-understand ways. And yet, I'm still afraid I can't say that this book did all that much for me. Maybe it's partly that so much of it seems a bit... obvious. But mostly I think it's that this is one of those books that really, really could and should just have been a long magazine article. He did not remotely need two hundred pages to get his points across, and the whole thing leaves me with the strong and slightly disappointed suspicion that it's only this long because that's what's necessary to get published. ( )

Very interesting and entertaining look at the dynamics of communication. Alan Alda brings the subject to life in the audio version. ( )

I heard Alan Alda on the radio, talking about this book, and it sounded interesting so I picked it up at the library. And, it is interesting, but not interesting enough to read all the way through. I got about halfway and then stopped. I enjoyed the concepts he discusses here--communication, relating, empathy, etc.--and the way he describes learning to use acting techniques, particularly improv, to improve (and teach others how to improve) general communication skills. The text is very straightforward and clear, not a lot of jargon or technical language. It would be ironic if there were, since a big chunk of the book is about making esoteric topics understandable to laymen. I think this is a successful exercise, and I'm sure it will be useful to people who want to explore these ideas. Alda is clearly a smart, thoughtful guy, which I have suspected ever since I watched him on MASH throughout my childhood. ( )

I used to immediately smile when I saw Alan Alda talk on my television set. Whether on MASH or, later, on Scientific American Frontiers, I could sense that this man was just smart, down-to-earth and funny....and he still is.

It is all the more amazing to me that he went from being a character on MASH to the science-loving host of one of the best shows on Public Television. MASH was a show that I watched over and over and over, from when it first aired on TV to the days of syndication and Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce was always my favorite character. I saw Scientific American Frontiers only a few times a year starting in 1990 when it first aired and only when I came home for the Christmas holiday from South Korea.

This book, is about communication, understanding and empathy and about ways to make a connection between yourself and your audience, something that not only scientists have trouble with, but people like you and me too.

It is very good and I enjoyed reading it because Alan Alda writes like he speaks which, for me, allowed me to hear his voice in my head every time I picked up the book. I found it enlightening and I especially enjoyed the chapters on how beneficial improvisational stage-acting techniques were in educating people how to communicate better with one another.

I picked up more than I couple of things that I felt I could use to get over some of my social phobias and overall it was just a really good book.

I would like to thank the author and Random House Publishing for sending me this complimentary edition for a good read and a fair review. ( )

An understandable, enjoyable book about why some of us are mystified when somebody talks science (yay - it's their fault, not ours), techniques and attitudes that make us better explainers and better listeners. I wanted to start the book again as soon as I finished it, but I have so many other books waiting patiently in line to get into the nonfiction variety pack. ( )