Top Communication books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Communication books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Communication

Understanding the concepts of Communication starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

The Definitive Book of Body Language

An expanded version of Allen Pease's Body Language (1981), The Definitive Book of Body Language outlines the basics of body language, including expressions, gestures, and physical movements, and offers supporting scientific data to explain what body language telegraphs in everyday exchanges.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts

People Skills is a communication skills handbook that can help you eliminate these and other communication problems. Author Robert Bolton describes the twelve most common communication barriers, showing how these “roadblocks” damage relationships by increasing defensiveness, aggressiveness, or dependency.

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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Made to Stick distills years of research and communication science into an easy-to-remember mnemonic and blueprint for creating 'sticky ideas'; ideas that get understood, remembered and that change something – minds or behaviours.

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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

Whether they take place at work or at home, with your neighbors or your spouse, crucial conversations can have a profound impact on your career, your happiness, and your future. With the skills you learn in this book, you'll never have to worry about the outcome of a crucial conversation again.

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Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences

Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary.

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Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond

This book gets “down and dirty.” It gives you detailed strategies—including talking points—that work in the real world even when the other side is hostile, unethical, or more powerful. When you finish it, you will already have an action plan for your next negotiation. You will know what to do and why.

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Additional Communication Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Communication, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Surrounded by Idiots

"Surrounded by Idiots" by Thomas Erikson is a guide to understanding the four major personality types and learning how to communicate effectively with them. It provides practical insights and real-life examples to help improve relationships and reduce misunderstandings.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Changing the Conversation: The 17 Principles of Conflict Resolution

From Joost Elffers, the packaging genius behind the huge New York Times bestsellers The 48 Laws of Power, The 33 Strategies of War, and The Art of Seduction, comes this invaluable manual that teaches seventeen fundamentals for turning any conflict into an opportunity for growth. Beautifully packaged in a graphic, two-color format, Changing the Conversation is written by conflict expert Dana Ca…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Fierce Conversations

Fierce conversations are powerful, passionate, untamed, and – most importantly – authentic. They're the conversations the real you has – the version of yourself that might typically hide behind manners or fear.

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Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Simply Said is the essential handbook for business communication. Do you ever feel as though your message hasn't gotten across? Do details get lost along the way? Have tense situations ever escalated unnecessarily? Do people buy into your ideas? It all comes down to communication. We all communicate, but few of us do it well. From tough presentations to everyday transactions, there is no scena…

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Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect helps you succeed by revealing Maxwell's Five Principles and Five Practices to develop this crucial skill of connecting, including: finding common ground, keeping your communication simple, capturing people's interest, inspiring people, and staying authentic in all your relationships.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a framework for interacting with other people and ourselves with empathy and compassion. The author, Marshall B. Rosenberg, was drawn to the idea of encouraging compassion after witnessing the deadly 1943 Detroit race riots as a child

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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