[.ca] How to Deal with Emotionally Explosive People (ISBN 007138569X)

as essential as a kleenex when you have a bad cold:
This book provides steak and potatoes advice in a genre so often filled with alfalfa sprouts. In my job as a manager just this morning I had to deal with an angry customer and then a sobbing employee and I was able to handle both these situations effectively. In one case the situation was a mirror image of an example in the book and though the advice was not what my inclination might have been I took a chance and handled the situation as suggested with stunning results. I am impressed. The writing style was easy to read, and I swear, the people Dr. Bernstein is writing about are my friends, coworkers and neighbors. I feel armed with practical advice for dealing with situations which, in the past,left me wondering what to do or berating myself after the fact for making this worse.

Even veteran managers can learn from this:
I've seen most of Dr. Bernstein's books since the Dinosaur Brain. What distinguishes this one most is that it is so lucid. Even when he dives into the clinical under-pinnings of a garden variety temper tantrum at the office, he never seems lofty, merely credible. He shows us the root causes without asking us to become the company shrink. Being clear in communication is fundamental to good management, so it's refreshing to find a book that models it. The advice is direct, unpretentious, sensible, layered with compassionate understanding. Dr. Bernstein understands that we have to get back to work, but invites us to handle the contretemps of colleagues with intelligent empathy. Someone who has worked in management 20-30 years, will nod in recognition at the discussions of difficult employees. If your role involves helping others deal with those individuals calmly, this is the book for you.

A guarantee for better emotional well-being:
Dr. Bernstein extends yet another strong and helpful hand in his most recent self-help book, "How to Deal with Emotionally Explosive People." This book helps me understand how to diffuse the emotional dynamite when dealing with over-reactive friends, depressed family members and grouchy co-workers. Each chapter reads true to life stories while the writer generously provides us with a solid ground of knowledge. It convinced me that, even in the most perplexing emotionally charged situations, I can be part of the solution instead of the problem. This is a book about building ones own emotional resilience. The real risk in using this book as prescribed is discovering what lies on the other side of our destructive patterns in human interactions and thought. Kate K.,Business Owner, ECE Consultant