Charlamagne is always so real and honest. I love how he gives life lessons and tried to help out the community. Everyone should read this book. There is soo much helpful information. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book.

The fact that this turned out to be a one-sitting read, is a fantastic example of holding one’s attention through engaging and timely thoughts being processed through jaunty witty prose. I’ll say this, Charlamange knows how to organize and arrange his thoughts cohesively and that adds up to a valuable book, urging us to eliminate the small talk and begin having big conversations with each other. At work, at home, among friends, and strangers even.

To clarify; Charlemagne says “To be clear, when I say “small talk” here I’m not just saying you can’t chat about the weather or ask coworkers how traffic was on the way to the job. I mean small talk as a symbol of our lack of authentic communication. Both as individuals and collectively.”

And through 29 chapters (he kept them short, because he was worried about the attention span of potential readers) he goes on to effectively layout why talking small sucks and the potential damage in continuing with small conversations.He consistently cajoles readers to reach for the best version of self. “The key is larger conversations, internally and with people around you. It will not come through small talk with others and damn sure not by making small talk with yourself.”

He really finishes strong with a chapter entitled, “The Blessed Don’t Beef with the Miserable “ Because of social media we are being bombarded with noise that some mistake for real news, and if you choose to engage, be wary of who is on the opposite of that connection. “But again, think about who you’re really engaging with in these circumstances. It’s not college professors or philosophers or journalists sitting in an office lined with books who’ve come to their opinions after years of research. The person you’re arguing with is probably literally sitting on the toilet with their pants down around their ankles, Pornhub on the laptop, and . . . let me stop there.” Yeah, well done Charlamagne. Big thanks to Netgalley and Simon&Schuster for an advance DRC. Look for this book 5/28/24 wherever books are sold.