“In this original take on why and how we use the words we do, Will Jelbert is a Marie Kondo for language: challenging our worst habits and offering a way through the clutter and laziness.”
—Kate Riordan, The Guardian, (and best-selling author of The Heatwave and The Girl in the Photograph)
“Our words matter in creating our happiness and success. Just as we clutter our homes through neglect and habit, Will Jelbert illustrates how we often clutter our minds and relationships with unhelpful language. More importantly, he brilliantly shows how mindful word selection can spark powerful connections and joy. This book is an essential guide for a social-media–saturated generation.”
—Michelle Gielan, best-selling author of Broadcasting Happiness
“One of the most personally influential books that I’ve read in my life—not only will it transform your day-to-day communication skills, but all your relationships around you as well. This is not a book that you read once and put down, but one that you pick up and reread over and over again.”
—Fiona Fong, founder and CEO, FIKA, and former speedskating Olympian
“This book will make you more conscious of your words. It will make you more honest. It will help you build genuine connections with the people in your life who matter most. And it will make you laugh out loud.”
—Adam Smiley Poswolsky, best-selling author of The Breakthrough Speaker, The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, and Friendship in the Age of Loneliness
“This is a book every Latin person should read to understand the secrets behind the language of Americans.”
—Francisca Garcia, Ms. Latina International 2018
“Just as the common poisonous phrases of polite conversation employed in lying and self-deception for the sake of a phony ‘peace’ are the source of most human conflict, divorce, and all the many forms of social breakdown—phony diplomacy is the very essence of what causes war. [Here are] a few words that might help, in the pell-mell rush to genocide, for the whole human race.”
—Brad Blanton, PhD, author of Radical Honesty, The Truthtellers, and Radical Parenting
“Will takes an approach to words and phrases that is refreshingly jarring and different than any other I’ve seen.… [Keep this book] handy to spark inspiration.”
—Max Stossel, founder of Words That Move; award-winning filmmaker and poet; named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of 2016
“Word Wise is a refreshing, intelligent, and much-needed polemic against an increasingly dystopian world—Fahrenheit 451 meets 1984—which rejects discourse and logic, and twists language to fit ideology. Word Wise celebrates Logos and helps cut through the nonsense for clear and precise speaking and, therefore, thinking.”
—Patrick Fagan, former lead psychologist at Cambridge Analytica, and lecturer in consumer behavior at Goldsmiths
“This book demonstrates how powerful one’s vocabulary is at determining how individuals make connections with others, view the world, and how one’s level of happiness can vary based on simple word choice.”
—Jean Marie Gunshanan, CCC-SLP, speech-language pathologist, New York City Department of Education
“Brutally honest, but also eye-opening, because I am a culprit of using probably 100 percent of word trash.”
—Yesenia Capalbo, editor, Reuters
“I find myself laughing a lot. I think a lot of New Yorkers can relate to the day-to-day behavior of people in the city—I know I did!”
—Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research, Reuters