KIRKUS REVIEW
A somewhat surprising source offers an illuminating guide to better communication.
McCarney began the Poquito Más restaurant chain in Southern California almost 30 years ago. Somewhere along the line, he learned quite a bit about human interaction. Here the author offers a cogent, easily accessible method for improving social interactions, both public and private. It’s based on a simple premise: that in each of us there is The Big Brain and The Little Brain. The Big Brain is home to all of our higher cerebral functions, while The Little Brain, closer to the speech center, is the source of foot-in-mouth disease. The trick to always saying the right thing, writes the author, is learning how to bypass The Little Brain as often as possible. In this way, readers are able to avoid uncomfortable scenarios and start leading happier lives. Effective communication is largely achieved through awareness and taking a moment to become cognizant of the outside influences constantly affecting our day-to-day psyche. In different hands, this psychology could have easily veered into the dry and technical, but McCarney is entirely straightforward, friendly and effective in his delivery. The chapters are short and concise, yet penetrating, and the accompanying cartoons are whimsical but illustrate important points.
A book that will make readers want to immediately put what they’ve learned into practice.
