In their opening chapters, Barker and Watson outline all the payoffs for improving listening skills, such as reducing stress in households, creating marital intimacy, shortening business meeting times, increasing sales (not surprisingly, the most successful sales representatives are effective listeners), and improving business performance. They then help readers identify their listening style and bad listening habits before teaching skills that will help readers gain more control when communicating and become more successful partners, learners, and employees. They even devote a chapter to the fascinating differences between how women and men listen. Some of the exercises may seem tedious, and the authors occasionally lapse into self-help jargon. But overall, the authors remain conversational and anecdotal (using make-believe people and situations to illustrate common problems), which makes it easier for readers to listen to all this sound advice. --Gail Hudson