Book of the Week #14: 20th August 2020 - YOU'RE NOT LISTENING by Kate Murphy

Greetings, readers! My name is Sareeta Domingo, and I’m an author and fiction editor. It’s my great pleasure to be bringing you a Book of the Week, each week here on Morning Mari.

This week, I was thinking about a phrase my mum used to say a lot when we were kids, which in turn came from her Bajan grandmother. She’d say: “hard ears you won’t hear, hard ears you’re gonna feel!” Which basically means you ought to listen or… Well, I don’t want to endorse any sort of physical punishment here, but I think some of you will get the meaning!

So my Book of the Week selection this week is the fascinating You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by journalist Kate Murphy. And it was also apt that I listened to this work as an audiobook!

Murphy’s book explores the vital importance of truly listening, especially in our current times, when it’s never been more apparent how important it is for us to listen to one another. The book is packed full of statistics and research about the decline in our abilities – in the Western world, at least – to concentrate, due to the distractions of social media, and our increasing need to lead a conversation at all costs, rather than genuinely digest the information we receive.

She investigates the idea of actively listening, rather than anticipating other’s responses, and the benefits of making true connections with others through this practice. The book also explores how we can approach one another from a place of true curiosity rather than assumption. Overall, as Murphy writes, “to listen poorly, selectively, or not at all is to limit your understanding of the world and deprive yourself of becoming the best you can be.” We should all listen harder. That is why You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters by Kate Murphy, is my Book of the Week this week.