Reviews - Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

5.51k reviews for:

Interesting take on why we frequently misinterpret other people, building on a series of psychological theories. I was surprised to learn that facial expressions we thought were innate representations of emotion (like a dropped jaw for surprise) are not consistent across humans (e.g., something I’d interpret as disgust may mean happiness in someone in a remote community). The discussion of coupling (that two conditions simultaneously have to exist for an outcome to occur) had clear implications for suicide and crime prevention.

mdross1's review against another edition

1.0

The majority of this book is a series of somewhat interesting pop psych anecdotes, with almost no connection to an overall theme. I'm not sure how the actual book was written, but the audiobook is produced like a bad podcast, full of hints of what's coming up as though it was a series or something, which was frustrating and off-putting.

There was one section in the middle about the Brock Turner case that really turned me off where he was just short of victim blaming. It really changed how I looked at the rest of the book, and I can't recommend it.

savt11's review against another edition

2.75

informative medium-paced

kerob's review against another edition

2.0

Oh my good lord this took forever to read about how poopoo doodoo we are in our judgment of others. If only the whole book was about the Sandra Bland case but otherwise I don’t care I don’t care anymore about this chore of a book.

klje's review against another edition

3.75

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

I’m not sure this book addresses the full scope of the issues it tackles, but this fundamental misunderstanding problem is at the very least an undercurrent in so much of today’s problems. I think the author waited too long to discuss the issues of race and racism that clearly play a factor in his guiding case study. I kept thinking, are you going to talk about it? Are you? I do want to note that the audiobook format with the direct quotes and theme song was incredible. More like a good book to get your parents and grandparents thinking critically, not as much for those immersed in the personal as political.

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