Reviews with content warning for Death - Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

This book made me remember that I don’t actually know anything at all. Malcolm Gladwell’s ability to dissect cultural phenomena and show us the guts is successful once again, in Talking to Strangers.
I never realized how many small assessments we make of people we’ve only just met! Gladwell proves that humans are judgmental by nature. Most of what we assume is incorrect. He examines what went wrong in that traffic stop that was an innocent Sandra Bland’s untimely end and how it speaks to a broader social context. How do we make snap judgments about the people we’ve met and why? Are we too trusting? Too wary? Gladwell covers it all and reveals some hard truths about how we should be treating the people around us.

Pro tip: don’t read this book in the park if you don’t want random strangers to come up to you and strike up weird conversations!! I learned that the hard way.

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rhosynmd's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

This is one of those books I know I’m going to be thinking about for a long time afterwards.

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stories's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

Clear contention which was well signposted and scaffolded. Unfortunately said contention was also distasteful and built on astounding levels of rape apologist, ableism and an enduring belief that we should simply carry on stereotyping, just generously, as if the possibility of accounting for diversity were unfathomable.

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kostkova_barca's review

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0.25

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andrealac's review

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lailams's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Before I say anything else, I'd like to mention that I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it if you like podcasts. I feel like actually hearing the clips he was talking about gave me much more contexts to the situations than if I had simply read the words on a page. And the theme song! Perfect choice.

This book is frankly incredible. You can tell how much research Gladwell did to understand each case study he spoke about, as well as the social psychology that's involved in learning about how we interact with strangers. It almost reads like a well-written, easily understandable, engaging, narrative driven academic essay. A lot of the concepts in this book - default to truth, our understanding of place, and how we interact with strangers - is something I'm going to carry with me for the rest of my life. Not to mention, it was incredibly satisfying when we finally wrapped back around to Sandra Bland's story in the end, integrating all we had learned to really understand just how horrifically the situation was handled. Brb, about to go recommend this book to everyone I know.

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touchtouch's review

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challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

I love this book and Malcolm Gladwell. Before I read it I assumed it would be much more of a self help or encouraging book, but I was, like I usually am, wrong. A very informative and thought provoking book on our communication and communication skills with friends, strangers, and new people. If you want to learn about history and challenge your thinking, or just think about topics you may not have before, read this book. I also suggest that if you like this book or not, you should read and listen to other Malcolm Gladwell media.

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