Customer Reviews

B.S. Detecting; the Flip Side of Success-Possible Communicating

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I purchased this book as a graduation gift for my granddaughter. Of course, I had to read it first, just to check it out. ;)

I wish I'd known before what this book reveals. Mz Thompson's behind-the-scenes knowledge of the ad industry, how to use and misuse words to entice us to "buy" what someone is selling, whether it's a product or just some B.S. was enlightening.

I hope she writes another one. I'd purchase that one too.

If you know a parent struggling with communicating with teenagers or preteens, this book would be a real help. And any
married couple would find it helpful in discussing decisions or disagreements without loss of harmony.
The book would also be a boon to a youngster. Remember all the difficult situations when you weren't sure what to say, or what to make of what was said to you? Imagine having a book that could tell you how to use words to help you progress in life, and how to deal with verbal abuse!

This is a defense manual for everyday life! The book's interactive, with each chapter's method of detecting and coping with words clearly and vividly explained. The concepts in it provide skills that empower the reader, and can improve your life!

To get us out of the "error messages and gobbledygook" we so often fall into, this book gives clear, practical, fun-to-read
specific guides to communicating more effectively. Among the 17
chapters, "What do you mean, he loves you?" "Says Who?" and "Who
started the fight?" Valuable reading for everyone! Highly
recommended.
Leon Fletcher, author of How to Speak Like a Pro,and How to Design and Deliver Speeches.

B.S. Detecting is a great book, filled with communication facts and tools! Definitely a must have for EVERYONE!

Some books are page-turners; this book is a page-thinker! Nearly ever page presents ideas that can move you to think, "I should do that!" "Now there's a good idea!" "I wish I'd said that yesterday!"

Called "A word-survival guide for real life," this bok teaches exactly what it claims: "how words we use and hear lead or mislead, persuade or intimidate, and heal or hurt, all of us."

Author Mary Thompson writes from experience, including teaching at Southern Methodist University and working "with master wordspinners," as she put it, at New York City public relations firms.

Pointing out that "we get gobbledgook and error messages all the time," this books gives readers clear, practial, specific guides to help communicate more effectively.

Among the 17 chapters, "What do you mean, he loves you?" "Loaded Language Characters," "Says Who?" and "Logically Speaking."

This book is well-written and presents a multitude of tips to make remembering easy. It is fun to read and worth returning to repeatedly for additional insights. It is valuable and interesting reading for virtually everyone.

Leon Fletcher, author and Emeritus Professor of Speech, Monterey Peninsula College

When this eye-opener of a book arrived, I thought it was a corporate manual written for a limited audience. I could not have been more wrong. It's written for all of us who use words in daily life.
As stated on the cover, this "word survival guide for real life" is just that. It's a defense manual for the everyday person who needs the knowledge to use words effectively, and to interpret what others mean when they speak and manipulate.

Written by self-proclaimed and proven "word-spinner," Mary Thompson, B.S. Detecting is a "how-to..." book for life situations that baffle, confuse and seem to get the better of us.
The creative use of colors to identify the moods and feelings of words expands the printed and spoken word to include a way to "fix" the skills in our minds ease of use.
Introducing the reader gradually to the "word war," we learn the system of "info-basing" to identify the BS vs. the reliable. We learn the difference between the map and the territory. Structuring her book to include every type of interactive situation in every phase of our lives, we learn to protect ourselves from "BS artists."
However, this is not a weighty tome of rules and regulations. It's interactive, with each chapter's method of word detection clearly explained.

Word survival rules, "Operating Definitions," "loaded language characters" and other tools are vividly explained.
If the concepts mentioned seem weighty for average readers, be assured the knowledge will be worth that weight in skills that can improve your life and peace of mind. Control of language is power. Learn to detect the "BS" and reframe it to your advantage, and this skill will carry you through life's verbal onslaughts with the confidence to emerge unscathed.