The Art of Communicating

By: Thich Nhat Hanh

Narrated by: Dan Woren

Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Zen master Thick Nhat Hanh, best-selling author of Peace is Every Step and one of the most respected and celebrated religious leaders in the world, delivers a powerful path to happiness through mastering life's most important skill: How do we say what we mean in a way that the other person can really hear? How can we listen with compassion and understanding?

Communication fuels the ties that bind, whether in relationships, business, or everyday interactions. Most of us, however, have never been taught the fundamental skills of communication - or how to best represent our true selves. Effective communication is as important to our well-being and happiness as the food we put into our bodies. It can be either healthy (and nourishing) or toxic (and destructive).

In this precise and practical guide, Zen master and Buddhist monk Thick Nhat Hanh reveals how to listen mindfully and express your fullest and most authentic self. With examples from his work with couples, families, and international conflicts, The Art of Communicating helps us move beyond the perils and frustrations of misrepresentation and misunderstanding to learn the listening and speaking skills that will forever change how we experience and impact the world.

©2013 Unified Buddhist Church (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

Decent short-ish listen for connecting with others

The narrator is very good (as this book represents teachings he readily follows). The greatest emphasis here is on mindfulness, understanding suffering and careful consideration (with empathy and reason) that others are also human.

The book is arranged into 9 subsections that range from <10min to 20-30min which can make listening to the chapters convenient if you only have relatively short time slots available. That said, I had to return to this book after months of lapse due to getting distracted with 'more interesting' audiobooks.

While this book does emphasize the importance of listening and present some helpful 'mantras', these mantras represent the bulk of the strategies talked about.

If you are interested in books like this, I would further recommend "Just Listen" which goes into more depth about dealing with different types of people and different types of situations that this book does not address.

Helps to be reminded how we use words

Amazing book :) compassionate communication can be the key to so many tough conversations, but it reminds us to think before we speak

Slow start but good message

Would you listen to The Art of Communicating again? Why?

I plan to listen to parts of it again. The six mantras are very good. I've tried some of them and they seem to work.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed the practicality of the book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

While suffering is not unique to Buddhism I do think that the emphasis on the recognition of one's own suffering, the suffering of others, and the role suffering plays in communication is very poignant.

Any additional comments?

The book seems to start as a primer on Buddhism perhaps because the communication premise of the book is based upon some principles of Buddhism. I was a little worried at first that it would not tie into communication as I expected; perhaps it didn't but it gave me some important insights into the role of communication when dealing with others.

Loving speech

Those familiar with Thich Nhat Hanh will miss his gentle voice in the narration here, but Mr. Woren does a fine job. For those not familiar, this book can make a nice introduction. The book discusses human relationships from a softly buddhist perspective. Listening attentively, responding with compassion, being present. Excellent advice, full of wisdom, gently given.

Highly recommend

Awesome and inspiring. I would recommend this book to anyone of any faith. Love it. Will no doubt read it again.

Will probably read it once a year until I die

My life would have been better had I found this work sooner. Not easier - better.

A monk with family advice

From a man who has never been married but has fostered children and given marital advice from a zen Buddhist perspective. He repeats “You must be understand others to love others.” And when we are arguing don’t we just want the other to understand? Let people have their say even when we think they are wrong. Then after things are cool come back to them in a living way and restate what you think they meant and ask them to listen to your perspective. I’m working on this, and Thich gives many examples and tools to make this possible. This book overall becomes a grab bag of tools for working things out and cherishing your loved ones.

Super Helpful

This was really good and there are parts of it that have vastly improved how I interact with people in my life, making me more compassionate.

Having said that, Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings are amazing when he teaches them, only half as useful when someone else does. He has a sense of humor, he's TEACHING that a sense of humor is important, but these narrators they keep hiring totally miss it and deliver things that are clearly jokes (which you recognize if you've actually listened to Thich Nhat Hahn teaching) very seriously as profound bits of wisdom, radically changing the meaning, and making him sound remote and unrelateable. So disappointing. The guy is funny, that's who he is, if he's too busy to read the books himself, I really wish they'd hire actors to do it and make them actually listen to him first. I'd recommended reading everything available he's narrated himself first (there seem to be a few things, start with Peacemaking), then once you know who he is, tackling these badly narrated works with an alertness to pick up on places where the meaning is changed by the poor narration.

Phenomenal!!

Loved it so much and found it extremely helpful that I bought the hard copy from thriftbooks.com 😁

Illuminating and practical advice

The sage advice and poetry of this valued text is worth many listenings. It was well done. I'm glad I took the time, it has enriched my life greatly.

Inspiration for healing yourself and your relationships

I think this is one of the most beautiful and profound books I’ve ever listened to. Whether you are Buddhist, Christian, Atheist, Pagan, Wiccan or not sure, Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s beautiful mindful logic is inspiring and uplifting and would bring peace to the hardest of hearts. We are all suffering inside, and we all have the ability to relieve the suffering in ourselves and others through the way we communicate with each other at home, work and anywhere else. #mindfulness #meditation #selfawareness #compassion #kindness #communication

Take a mindfull breathe before doing anything.

Finally completed listening to this masterpiece. Great job played by the narrator too.
Book Recommended.

Beautiful and amazing for spiritual awakening

essential for every human on this earth to read or listen to. Thank you for sharing. I will keep listening to this as it is always needed.

Not so interesting to listen to.

The narrators voice makes me sleepy. It's goid to listen when you want to sleep.

another great book thoroughly enjoyed it

another great book thoroughly enjoyed it. highly recommend. great explanation and totally makesebse some great ideas to incorporate into life

So much to absorb

This is a deep lesson to take in. There is so much and so many techniques to consider that it requires you to listen multiple times. The strategies are well tried and tested and they work. Invest the time and commitment to fully absorb.

awesome

I found this book awesome and I'd highly recommend it.from psycholological point of view it's great

Amazing..

Good pace to Learn and adapt . Great narration and everyday examples for simple learning.

Very practical and valuable

This is a very practical and helpful guide to communicating in a way that makes other people and yourself happier and more peaceful. Worth listening.

The message is a good one but monotonously read

Would you try another book written by Thich Nhat Hanh or narrated by Dan Woren?

I would recommend the author but not the narrator.

Would you recommend The Art of Communicating to your friends? Why or why not?

probably - the message is a good one. More examples of applying the ideas in different circumstances (like business, or negotiations) would be useful.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Very monotonous "self help" style voice

Could you see The Art of Communicating being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

No