Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

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

27 reviews

annaroses's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Rape, Racism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Police brutality

montyalmoro's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Rape, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

carolinethilde's review

challenging informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Gaslighting, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Gore, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

There is analytical discussion on attempts at suicide, racial profiling, and pedophilic behavior.

aquariusvintage's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Racism, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

rhosynmd's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

sanneforbes's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, Mental illness, and Gun violence

margodawful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

This was a wonderful book. The audiobook format made it more like a 9 hour podcast and it was extremely engaging (especially as someone who has trouble focusing on audiobooks). Surprisingly, I found that most of the ideas he was discussing were familiar to me (especially coupling and defaulting to truth) but I had never heard their official names, or thought about them in the context of the specific events that Gladwell discusses. His dissection of miscommunication and distrust is well organized and thought out, especially considering the difficulty of the subject matter.

I did take off some points because I wanted more than this book gave me. I feel that Gladwell stopped three quarters of the way, leaving out discussions of American subcultures, regionalism, and implicit bias. He touches upon these phenomena but doesn't give them as much significance and the topic warranted. That being said, I think he also benefitted from keeping this book narratively more simple than that would have allowed for.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

book_perk's review

dark informative tense medium-paced

2.0

 I picked up the audiobook to help speed my reading along and was really impressed with the production and use of audio clips, music, etc. It kept me entertained thoroughly and I would highly recommend the audio aspect of this book. That being said, I did not enjoy the actual content whatsoever. In fact, I found a lot of it (especially the dismissal of the responsibility of people in power to report and properly deal with allegations of sexual abuse) to be overly simplified to the point of being extremely problematic. The writing deals with a lot of difficult topics (check trigger warnings before picking this up) and, while Gladwell makes some interesting points, he overall wrote about the case studies with a disgusting lack of empathy. My two stars are for the last section of the book in which Gladwell really wraps up his arguments and provides an interesting discussion regarding changes to policing policies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, and Gun violence

sls0369's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Eye opening and a bit disheartening. I was waiting for "and this is how we do better" but that didn't come.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Rape, Xenophobia, and Racism

kimberleyb's review

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Racism, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence