I have always really enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell’s books and Talking to Strangers was no different. I think it’s his style of writing that really intrigues me. He weaves a story using facts and data that feels conclusive without reading like a research paper. Yet at the same time he raises questions that he doesn’t always know, or provide the answers to. His books are very often thought-provoking complex works.

Talking to Strangers is essentially a book about why we so often misjudge strangers, what happens when our interactions with people different than us go wrong, and why things are very often more complex than they seem. It is a wonderful combination of detailed research and rich storytelling.

I absolutely loved reading this book and would highly recommend it to anybody that really enjoys a good book that encourages you to think deeply about things.

Time to Read: 5 Hours

malcolm gladwell has a way of making non-fiction incredibly interesting by commenting on real life scenarios and bringing in heavily researched commentary. for this book in particular i felt like his examples and arguments made sense individually but i had a bit of trouble understanding his overall thesis.

Gladwell is so very easy and fun to read. The stories and antecdotes never cease and are always relevant to the point. But the point of this one simply seemed to be that strangers are strangers. Don't expect or assume to know or understand what they're thinking, feeling, doing, or wanting. We don't. We can't know if they're lying, fooling us, communicating something different than we're hearing. This whole book simply seemed to be isolating everyone in a silo and expressing how great the gulf is between us. Whether it is intentional or not. And there's no solution beyond accepting this fact and not assuming anything otherwise. I hope there's more hope than I walked away with from this book for people to connect and no longer be strangers.

3.5 ⭐️
informative reflective

Important points are made on how our preconceived notions skew our viewpoint when we have conversations. We believe we know what is going on, but situationally things change dramatically. Solid read.

As with all of Gladwell's writing Talking To Strangers is both easy to follow and captivating. He has a knack for simplifying complex situations and always makes a solid attempt at trying to see the causes and conditions that lead to any given situation. In the case of Talking To Strangers his focus his held firmly on our inability to communicate with each other. I can understand why some readers would find aspects of this book troubling, but if we can take anything away from this book it is that the world is a troubling place, mainly because we as humans inhabit it and on the whole we do a pretty shitty job of communicating with each other. It serves as the reminder we all need, that we need to be less wrapped up in our own selfish lives, show compassion to others and remember that we're all connected and that EVERYTHING we do has a cause and effect.

I liked the podcast feel to his audiobook, which moved up the rating one whole star. But wow, I disagreed with almost everything he had to say in this book!
informative reflective

Very interesting book, very well constructed in order to make the reader understand the challenges of meeting and understanding strangers.
I do think the author could have gone deeper in chapter 8 and take into consideration the influence of the misogynistic culture on the behaviour of men when under alcohol excessive consumption because as our society is (and not from yesterday), I do think the girl is quite right when saying the difference was (and still is) she did not do what he did, she did not sexually assault him despite both of them having been equally intoxicated. Great book nonetheless.

Somewhat insightful. I can say I didn’t really like the format of the audio book. Was a bit too podcastish.

If I wanted to listen to a podcast I’d listen to a podcast.