Even the use of the very word "empathy" can produce some interesting gut-level reactions. Some people feel the need to delve deeper; others just snicker.
Empathy--the ability to sense what other people feel emotionally--is a handy skill, and helpful in many situations. But it is often misunderstood as well.
Cris Beam puts a journalists on fact and myth, theory and practice in the book I Feel You: The Surprising Power of Extreme Empathy. The author visits with details of the research that led to the book.