In How to Know a Person, Brooks sets out to help us do better, posing questions that are essential for all of us: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person's story should you pay attention to? Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and his determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and from the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception. The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them, and in turn, see something larger in ourselves? .

Part 1: I see you. The power of being seen -- How not to see a person -- Illumination -- Accompaniment -- What is a person? -- Good talks -- The right questions -- Part 2: I see you in your struggles. The epidemic of blindness -- Hard conversations -- How do you serve a friend who is in despair? -- The art of empathy -- How were you shaped by your sufferings? -- Part 3: I see you with your strengths. Personality: what energy do you bring into the room? -- Life tasks -- Life stories -- How do your ancestors show up in your life? -- What is wisdom?.