Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

Malcolm Gladwell

Sept 2019 · Hachette Audio · Narrated by Malcolm Gladwell

About this audiobook

A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Pres
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.
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 each other that isn't true?
While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout."
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.

Ratings and reviews

"What to avoid when talking with strangers" would be a more fitting title. This book highlights high profile examples of failiures to communicate between strangers. It presents numerous logical perspectives regarding how/why those people failed, yet inferences about what one should do instead, are suprisingly sparse.

A very good look at how people interact with strangers in high stress and less than ideal circumstances. It uses current news and various psychological experiments to highlight how people interpret other people and how we're often incorrect in the methods we use. As a point to some reviews that I've seen that say Russ is anti-police: you clearly didn't read/listen to the entire book. It explains how the entire system and our culture creates failures rather than a destructive take on policing. Please note this isn't training to talk to strangers; it's an exploration of the psychology of talking to strangers.

Gladwell makes a compelling plea for change in modern policing techniques and why they are commonly misunderstood by law enforcement leaders, leading to more unnecessary and tragic incidents. His "podcast style" recording is engaging and innovative. I would strongly encourage anyone to listen to this book. An insightful review of the human condition, compelling a level of cautious compassion when dealing with unfamiliar people.

About the author

Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers--The Tipping Point, Blink,Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers.