36 pages 1 hour read

Chris Voss

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended on It

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2016

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Essay Topics

1.

Voss supports most of his claims with various types of evidence, including his own experiences, anecdotes from others, and academic studies. Analyze the use of evidence in a chapter of your choice. Begin by identifying Voss’s central claims and the evidence he presents in support of each. How does he balance and connect the various types of evidence? Which points are best supported, and which, if any, lack sufficient support?

2.

Many of the techniques discussed in Never Split the Difference rest on generalized psychological models of human behavior, implying that the same principles of negotiation can be used in personal, political, and professional situations, as well as across cultural boundaries. Is that a safe assumption? Are there any techniques that might require adaptation under certain circumstances? Find evidence from the book to support your conclusion.

3.

After the first, each chapter deals with one main principle of negotiation. Considering the book’s overall structure, why might Voss and Raz have ordered the chapters as they did? You might consider how the ideas in each chapter connect to adjacent chapters.