Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion

George J. Thompson, PhD

Dec 2013 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

Verbal Judo is the martial art of the mind and mouth that can show you how to be better prepared in every verbal encounter. Listen and speak more effectively, engage people through empathy (the most powerful word in the English language), avoid the most common conversational disasters, and use proven strategies that allow you to successfully communicate your point of view and take the upper hand in most disputes.

Verbal Judo offers a creative look at conflict that will help you defuse confrontations and generate cooperation from your spouse, your boss, and even your teenager. As the author says, "when you react, the event controls you. When you respond, you’re in control."

This new edition features a fresh new cover and a foreword demonstrating the legacy of Verbal Judo founder and author George Thompson, as well as a never-before-published final chapter presenting Thompson’s "Five Universal Truths" of human interaction.

Ratings and reviews

Writing is a bit verbose at times; i.e. I already bought the book, so you've sold me and don't need to continue selling me on the benefits of the content. The content, though, is genuine, insightful, and clearly backed by experience. Though it focused on law enforcement, the information is transferrable to other fields. I've certainly gained from the read and I've found myself thinking much more strategically in my communication. Should be standard reading for any workplace.

Great read for anyone working with the public! This book was originally designed for Law enforcement as a way to develop verbal de-escalation techniques but is useful for anyone in retail, sales or dealing with the general public. Why it's not 5 stars is it feels like a good portion of the book is still trying to sell you on getting the book. My other nitpick is that one of the primary lessons is to let your ego go, which is great advice but the author has to preface every encounter with a reminder that he's a super tough expert in martial arts who could easily dispatch his foes but chooses to be kind and use verbal judo instead. It's repetitive, we get it, you are a black belt, you named your program after martial arts, the image is painted, stop showing it every chapter.

Good enough to reading to the end. A big Pleasure and cool about it Many emotions' Whirlwind, I recommend it a lot, strong! I reading it, While stargazing Smart things, very Genuine

About the author

George J. Thompson, PH.D., was the president and founder of the Verbal Judo Institute before his death in 2011. A former English professor and a black-belt master of karate, he created and crash-tested verbal judo when he was a police officer on an urban beat.