How to Ruin a Great Conversation: 1. Replace curiosity with curiositas. 2. Treat therapeutic self-disclosure as the zenith of intellectual intimacy. 3. Assume that talking about great books is the same thing as having a great discussion. 4. Allow your conversations to become sclerotic. 5. Focus on the form of your conversations to the neglect of the content. The full essay by Brian Daskam is now live.
“As I’ve tried to understand how to become a better conversationalist, I’ve found that I’ve had to overcome weird ideas about what a good conversationalist is like. A lot of people think a good conversationalist is someone who can tell funny stories. That’s a raconteur, but it’s not a conversationalist. A lot of people think a good conversationalis
... See moreConversations stumble; they stray; they repeat; they are bloated with, you know, like, meaningless words; and they are often cut short by intrusions. But what they have going for them is human contact, the sound of a human voice.
