Conversation: A History of a Declining Art
Author: Stephen Miller
Amazon info
If you are looking for a book to help you become a better conversationalist, I don't think that this will help. In fact, if you start talking about this book at a dinner party you are more than likely to bore most people. It's not that this is a bad book, it's just that it is not a helpful book. It is a history book. The book doesn't trace the development of conversation (which could be hard), but rather the history of "commentary about conversation". So, if you want to know what Samuel Johnson thought made a good conversationalist or how the Salons in France developed in the 18th century, this is the book for you. If you want to know what makes a good conversationalist, you might be better off with "How to Win Friends and Influence People". I enjoyed reading the book, but this is a book that would benefit from a closer study, not a casual reading. By the way, conversation is thought to be in decline today because people no longer talk - they rant.
Recommended: Historians, people with a private school education - or at least those much more familiar with David Hume than I am (yes, I know that he is a Scottish philosopher - but not much more).