‘This is a self-help book on how best to argue successfully, conciliate, and carefully persuade. The authors admit to setting it up wrong within their own past conversations. One by one, I understand the same mistakes in me. The world will be a better place if everyone read this book.’ — Richard Dawkins, writer of Research in the Spirit and Outgrowing God

In our current politics climate, it seems impossible to have a acceptable conversation with whoever has a different opinion. Whether you’re online, inside a about How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide class, an workplace, a town hall — or simply hoping to get through a family dinner with a persistent comparative — dialogue shuts down when perspectives clash. Heated debates frequently lead to insults and shaming, preventing any possibility of effective discourse. Everyone appears to be on a locks trigger.

In How to Have Impossible Conversations, Peter Boghossian and Wayne Lindsay guide you through the straightforward, practical, conversational techniques essential for every effective conversation — if the concern is weather change, religious faith, gender identity, competition, poverty, immigration, or gun control. Boghossian and Lindsay train the subtle artwork of instilling uncertainties and opening minds. They cover from learning the fundamentals for good discussions to attaining expert-level ways to deal with hardliners and extremists. This reserve is the manual everyone needs to foster a environment of civility, connection, and empathy.