I have always found it fascinating that there is a fairly thriving economy -- both literary and in general social cachet -- for conversation starters.
In my pop culture-riddled mind, it’s a very 70s or 80s thing to have a bowl of folded pieces of paper with questions on them or a book of hypotheticals to encourage dinner party guests to open up to each other. These books and blogs still exist today, however, and they baffle me. What I’ve surmised may really drive this phenomenon is simply a desire to have fresh things to talk about -- novelty and excitement in discussions with old friends and colleagues.