From Babel to Coherence
A Practical Guide to Rebuilding Understanding When Words Divide Us
A short field guide for anyone whose closest relationships are fracturing over words like safe, respect, fair, and harm. Read it once. Then keep it close, and open it before your next hard conversation.
Launching October 13, 2026. Both buttons open Amazon in a new tab.
One word ended the conversation.
Daniel loves his daughter. Maya loves her father. Then one Sunday at dinner, Maya says, “Dad, sometimes I don’t feel safe talking to you.” Daniel hears an accusation that he is dangerous. Maya meant she did not feel free to say what she thinks. Neither stops long enough to find that out, and six months of silence follow.
Their story runs through the whole book. You watch the Babel Cascade take hold, then watch them find their way back, not by agreeing, but by finally understanding what the other one means.
“Only if we stop assuming we know what the other person means.” Maya, at her grandmother’s funeral
What is inside
Babel
Why people who love each other stop understanding each other: Semantic Babel, the Babel Cascade, the layers under every argument, and your own load-bearing and trigger words.
Reconciliation
The method: representation before rebuttal, the Right-to-Debate Test, separating behavior from motive, building a shared dictionary, and the Ten Moves.
Coherence
What success looks like when you still disagree, and an honest chapter on when reconciliation is not the goal.
The Field Guide
Tools to use again and again: a conversation prep sheet, the Right-to-Debate Checklist, dictionary and minefield pages, the Coherence Check, and the Pledge.
Look inside
Every concept fits on two pages or fewer, and every chapter ends with one thing to try and one line to remember.
Open it when you need it
Before a hard conversation
Fill in the prep sheet: the words likely to carry the weight, the motive you keep assigning, and your opening line.
When you want to argue
Run the Right-to-Debate Checklist to find out whether the debate has earned the right to begin.
When a word sets you off
Map your minefield, write your pause plan, and keep your repair sentence ready for when you miss the signal.
When you need the big picture
The whole framework fits on one page, and the Ten Moves are on the last page so you can find them fast.
When you want to recommit
Return to the Semantic Coherence Pledge, and retake the Coherence Check to see how a relationship is changing.
Alongside the free assessments
The book pairs with the online relationship and Semantic Minefield assessments. Your answers stay on your own device.
Book details
| Title | From Babel to Coherence: A Practical Guide to Rebuilding Understanding When Words Divide Us |
|---|---|
| Author | Alma Ohene-Opare |
| Formats | Paperback and Kindle ebook |
| Launch date | October 13, 2026 |
| Length | 80 pages |
| Paperback size | 6 x 9 inches, with write-in Field Guide pages |
| Reading time | About an hour and a half, cover to cover |
Get your copy
Choose the paperback if you want to write in the Field Guide pages. Choose the Kindle ebook to carry it on your phone and open it right before a hard conversation.
Ordering copies for an event, team, or congregation? Ask about bulk copies when you request a keynote.