Negotiation is the "great unknown" of human communication. When a baby demands or refuses food, when an international peace conference decides on the future of peoples and nations, everybody interacts with everybody. Power and balance, methods and styles, often dictated by the negotiator's cultural background, influence the outcome. The aim is cooperation, based on common interests. The way to get there quite often starts with confrontation and includes the competition of ideas and proposals. The author, an experienced diplomat who supports his theories with innumerable and often amusing anecdotes, shows politicians, business people and students how to do it - and improve their skills.