The most useful book I’ve ever read — the one I would hand to a newly landed alien, if he had room for only one book in his alien-pouch — happens also to be the most mortifying. It’s a self-help book called Nonviolent Communication, and it’s about how we can communicate better, whether at a bar or in bed or across a negotiating table. Its author, Marshall Rosenberg, died nearly two years ago, and everyone who cares about the tricky business of getting along with people ought to (gently) raise a glass in his honor.
I recently felt compelled to print a couple of thousand business-size cards featuring a quote...