Why don’t we listen better? Communicating and connecting in relationships by James Peterson is a book about effective listening and enhancing your communication skills. Listening is the building block for any relationship. Communication begins with a talker and a listener. The book explores self-discovery by converging different communication techniques which helps form healthy relationships. Peterson divides communication in three different parts. The first part is the stomach which is your feelings and emotions. The second part is the heart. The heart deliberates the different possibilities when functioning correctly. The third part is the head. The head is responsible for thinking and forming logical ideas. Flat brain syndrome is when emotions full the stomach and enlarge and thrusts the heart and causes the brain to go flat. When this syndrome happens the individual have to release their emotion in order to revert back to a state of correct thinking. The author shows that listening entails more than just hearing. The role of a talker and a listener progress the communication process and make it more effective in preventing the flat brain syndrome. Peterson defines the talker as the one who owns the problem and as the one who tries to solve it by first sharing thoughts and feelings without passing judgment, and attacking the person. The most important and critical role of the entire exchange is the listener. The listener does not own the problem and they are not accountable for solving it. The tendency of most is to take ownership which makes it difficult for the listener. In chapter eighteen numerous listening techniques are discussed. One of these techniques is giving a safe environment to share feelings for the talker. A second technique is to understand and actively listen to the talker. A third technique is to clarify the problem. In conclusion the