Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers and why they often go wrong–now with a new afterword by the author. A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Press How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a … Tribune, and Detroit Free Press
How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn’t true?
Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland–throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt.
Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.
So to be honest I listened to this book and am glad I did. Gladwell incorporates real audio recordings and then discusses what they mean. I don’t know if actually reading this would give the reader the same experience. The book is haunting for many reasons. The stories told could happen to any of us but in our current world environment, not getting the stranger’s intent correctly could be detrimental.
I am having a hard time writing this review. Let me start by saying I have listened to many other books written and read by Malcolm Gladwell and truly enjoyed them and learned from them. Talking to Strangers was hard for me to listen to and in fact at one point during the sexual allegations part I could not finish that part and skipped to the next chapter. Maxwell does a wonderful job of narrating his books I think and for that, I would give him 5 stars. Maybe it is partly the timing of my listening to this book too. We are in the midst of the George Floyd tragedy and so that is the forefront in my mind.
As always, Malcolm Gladwell makes me think differently about things. I really enjoy the lateral thinking.
Another informative and entertaining read from Malcom Galdwell.
An interesting and informative look at barriers to understanding people you don’t know, and into some of the high profile and highly polarizing criminal justice incedents in recent years.
Gladwell always has interesting insights and I learn a lot about concepts that I had never given much thought to but should have.
Big fan of the author
Malcolm fan
I didn’t care for it. It had a tendency to drag on.
I was torn regarding my rating for this book. I like Malcolm Gladwell’s ability to make me think about things I think I know, but see them differently. However, the real world examples he picked for his focus left me cringing at some of his conclusions. He makes no secret of the fact that he’s a journalist, not a social scientist, yet his conclusions are based on his interpretation of what he views as the facts. Some of his conclusions about where society is headed in his earlier books haven’t quite held up (I’m thinking in particular of the baby names section), but others have. The key point is, society and its attitudes change, and we can’t always predict how or why those changes will occur. Technology and nature play a role that’s not always predictable or quantifiable, and I say that as a former journalist, not as a social scientist.
So I’m glad I read it, but I couldn’t feel it was more than OK.
not as interesting as other book written by this author
Gladwell’s usual thought-provoking analysis of modern dilemmas and sometimes tragedies brought on by our misreading of communication and situations.
An eye-opening expose of communication blunders, blind spots, and misconceptions pulled from the pages of history.
Not the author’s best. Still interesting information, but it seemed to lack the depth his other books have. It may have been a rush to publication, because it’s a very timely topic in our current political and racial climate.
Very interesting
Bounces around to many very relevant topics. Good read.
Common sense explanations for why we do what we do. My Dr. recommended it to me and I am glad she did. I am not a non-fiction reader, but this changed my mine about non-fiction.
Excellent. Everybody should read this book.
Another brilliant book by Malcolm Gladwell. Thoughtful, insightful and provocative. Read this book!
interesting analysis of why certain things happened, and how people can be taken in by “strangers.” How to trust and yet be cautious, a thin tightrope to walk.