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5.53k reviews for:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don‰ЫЄt Know
Malcolm Gladwell
3.83 AVERAGE
5.53k reviews for:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don‰ЫЄt Know
Malcolm Gladwell
3.83 AVERAGE
3.75 stars
The audiobook version is effectively a podcast season, complete with sound clips from interviews as well as enhanced audio trimmings.
Historically I have liked his books, and while I found this interesting, I didn’t like it as much.
I feel the same about his podcast. I am impressed by his research and delivery, usually find the topics curious or interesting, but it's rarely a "revelation" (hardly ever a spiritual or intellectual reckoning for me).
If you are an enthusiast of his work, you’ll love this book. If you’re so so it’s probably better to pass.
Overall this book was a meditation on how you can never know what is going on the inside of a person. That outward emotions are not a form of transparency... that Hollywood and novels have made us expect certain reactions and those are often not how someone might genuinely express themselves in that situation (guilt, surprise, etc) the only exception is happy and the happy smile.
As a lawyer, this book solidified my apprehension to ever use “eye witness testimony” especially when they are testifying to observations of other humans... it also gives a sobering thought about jury and judge trials...
The book also provides an 'explanation' for a number of stories in the news, such as Penn State's pedophile coach (and why it took 10 years), Amanda Knox, and the death of a young black woman who was 'wrongly' arrested by an overzealous white cop.
The audiobook version is effectively a podcast season, complete with sound clips from interviews as well as enhanced audio trimmings.
Historically I have liked his books, and while I found this interesting, I didn’t like it as much.
I feel the same about his podcast. I am impressed by his research and delivery, usually find the topics curious or interesting, but it's rarely a "revelation" (hardly ever a spiritual or intellectual reckoning for me).
If you are an enthusiast of his work, you’ll love this book. If you’re so so it’s probably better to pass.
Overall this book was a meditation on how you can never know what is going on the inside of a person. That outward emotions are not a form of transparency... that Hollywood and novels have made us expect certain reactions and those are often not how someone might genuinely express themselves in that situation (guilt, surprise, etc) the only exception is happy and the happy smile.
As a lawyer, this book solidified my apprehension to ever use “eye witness testimony” especially when they are testifying to observations of other humans... it also gives a sobering thought about jury and judge trials...
The book also provides an 'explanation' for a number of stories in the news, such as Penn State's pedophile coach (and why it took 10 years), Amanda Knox, and the death of a young black woman who was 'wrongly' arrested by an overzealous white cop.
informative
sad
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Useful, but emotionally difficult exploration of terrible situations and how they may have been precipitated by our poor ability to predict or interpret causality in social situations.
I really liked the chapters on Hitler and spies, and the ideas about coupling and default to truth. The alcohol/sexual assault and suicide-related chapters, along with the Sandra Bland analysis, felt like they weren't analyzing the whole picture-- I think the historical and societal systems at play relating to race, gender inequality, and power were downplayed. At times, it almost made me feel like Gladwell was saying it wasn't a lapse in judgement of the men at college parties for assaulting female students, just a lapse in judgement about how much they should drink. Or that only heavily policing high-crime urban areas will reduce racist police encounters, despite that underlying issues of systemic racism, poverty, and a lack of mental healthcare lead to high-crime areas, and thus targeted policing will still result in disproportionately targeted police violence (though maybe less violence overall).
The storytelling and production value are excellent (though calling an audiobook with some actors and audio snippets in it "historic" might be a little excessive), and the case study storytelling is my favorite part.
The storytelling and production value are excellent (though calling an audiobook with some actors and audio snippets in it "historic" might be a little excessive), and the case study storytelling is my favorite part.
Audio, but really feels like an extended podcast
Well done
Well done
Nope. Although Gladwell had some interesting examples, the book read as an excuse for sexual predators and killer cops. I read the whole thing just because I couldn't believe he was actually going in the direction that it felt like he was, but it really did end up being that reductive.
This was my first book by Malcom Gladwell and I listened to it on audiobook which I think improved my reading experience a lot. The music and interviews from actual people really brought the book to life. I really enjoyed it, however, I do feel like the title is misleading as I went into this expecting something a little different. It does not give advice on how to talk to or understand strangers better. Overall it was very well written, interesting and thought-provoking but I found it lacking in depth in some aspects, especially in the cases regarding rasism and rape where miscommunication between strangers just doesn't suffice as an explanation. I feel like the stories would have been more powerful had he chosen less but gone deeper.
Incredible audiobook, mind blowing storytelling from a non-fiction.