Talking To Strangers by Malcom Gladwell
(Format for this read: Print-hardback…I will never get tired of the bargain aisles at Barnes & Noble)
I’m a Malcom Gladwell fan.
His podcast “Revisionist History” is entertaining and educational…
he reminds me of that one really cool college professor you had back in the day–something like Sociology–who was quirky, super smart, always wore the same eccentric blazer and everybody just LOVED.
I heard the audiobook for this was AMAZING but the wait list at the library was MONTHS long…
When this book was on sale during Christmas at B&N I HAAADDD to get it.
Here is the summary:
“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.”
This book was CRAAAAZZZZYYY interesting y’all.
A concept he digs deep into is how human beings “default to truth”….meaning for the majority of us we automatically give people the benefit of the doubt when we interact with them.
We also assume transparency…that who a person presents themselves to be is their real authentic self.
I have to say when I first read that I was like “Hmmm I don’t know about that. I think most people mistrust others first…”
But then the more I read his presented case studies and the correlating research I was like “Damn…we absolutely do that…we almost HAVE to do that or society could not function.”
Also a concept he points out….we kinda suck as humans worldwide in understanding strangers.
Why is that???
The various cases he researched and explains from many angles were really engaging….
But at times irritating and frustrating and heartbreaking….like when listening to accounts of some pretty horrible events (like Larry Nassar ‘s victim accounts)
Malcom Gladwell is a super smart dude who always has in depth and honest research on whatever topic he is digging apart (y’all there are PAGES AND PAGES of resources in the back of the book!!!)
But I think he also has a way of writing and talking that is down to Earth and not too “scholarly” so that the average brain (like my own!) can follow along and learn.
If you get a chance to listen to the audiobook definitely do that…but if not the print version is super good so don’t miss out!