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anyo10 's review for:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know
by Malcolm Gladwell
medium-paced
My first Malcom Gladwell! Definitely interested in reading more of his books. Not sure overall what to say about it, it started slow and then picked up, but just felt sooo heavy with the subject matter. I learned some really important things, but also was confused at parts with how he was trying to connect things.
Specifically the part about Jerry Sandusky was wild. I don't understand how it fit in with the rest of the book, and feel like he really just wanted to be able to write about the case. I finished that chapter feeling quite uneasy- he really wants to have people question whether or not he is guilty because of one or two conspiracy theorists? Also felt super uncomfortable with how graphic the SA parts were; it felt like he was sensationalizing a really awful subject and it made me take away less of what he was actually trying to argue or get across.
My learnings:
-great reminder that talking with strangers means talking to people with very different perspectives and backgrounds than us (I liked the example of a person from the Netherlands moving here and thinking that they way Americans behave is fake because they are effusive)
-guns are a huge public health problem, especially for police interacting with the public, crime riddled neighborhoods, and death by suicide
-crime reduction initiatives can be very useful, if the data from them are used correctly (I was mind blown by how stupid traffic stops are bc data was used incorrectly) (And why are we still relying on police who don't have enough training to do it all?)
-the fact that crime isn't gathered in whole neighborhoods, but streets within the neighborhoods is so interesting. Also good to know how much a reduction in guns can help.
-suicidal people who don't easily have access to a way to kill themselves often don't (so wild how many deaths could have been prevented if a net had been put up under the San Francisco Bridge so much earlier- those people that fail to execute a jump most often don't end up dying in the end from a different way)
-the justice system continues to feel so unfair, and yet what to do about it? Humans are just so bad at detecting truth from lies
-the information gleaned from torturing people is often not true at all (and yet we keep doing it)
-we are surrounded by people lying to us everyday, and instead of detecting it, we're actually really good at giving them the benefit of the doubt and that's actually a good thing because it would be terrible living in a society filled with people that don't trust one another (Bernie Madoff's case was crazyyyyy and I loved the profile of the guy that knew he was a fraud from the beginning)
-the amount of sexual assaults taking place on college campuses is unacceptable; I can't believe there isn't more being done to figure out how to stop them more often. And I don't think Gladwell quite hit the nail on the head by blaming alcohol more than the objectification of women.
Specifically the part about Jerry Sandusky was wild. I don't understand how it fit in with the rest of the book, and feel like he really just wanted to be able to write about the case. I finished that chapter feeling quite uneasy- he really wants to have people question whether or not he is guilty because of one or two conspiracy theorists? Also felt super uncomfortable with how graphic the SA parts were; it felt like he was sensationalizing a really awful subject and it made me take away less of what he was actually trying to argue or get across.
My learnings:
-great reminder that talking with strangers means talking to people with very different perspectives and backgrounds than us (I liked the example of a person from the Netherlands moving here and thinking that they way Americans behave is fake because they are effusive)
-guns are a huge public health problem, especially for police interacting with the public, crime riddled neighborhoods, and death by suicide
-crime reduction initiatives can be very useful, if the data from them are used correctly (I was mind blown by how stupid traffic stops are bc data was used incorrectly) (And why are we still relying on police who don't have enough training to do it all?)
-the fact that crime isn't gathered in whole neighborhoods, but streets within the neighborhoods is so interesting. Also good to know how much a reduction in guns can help.
-suicidal people who don't easily have access to a way to kill themselves often don't (so wild how many deaths could have been prevented if a net had been put up under the San Francisco Bridge so much earlier- those people that fail to execute a jump most often don't end up dying in the end from a different way)
-the justice system continues to feel so unfair, and yet what to do about it? Humans are just so bad at detecting truth from lies
-the information gleaned from torturing people is often not true at all (and yet we keep doing it)
-we are surrounded by people lying to us everyday, and instead of detecting it, we're actually really good at giving them the benefit of the doubt and that's actually a good thing because it would be terrible living in a society filled with people that don't trust one another (Bernie Madoff's case was crazyyyyy and I loved the profile of the guy that knew he was a fraud from the beginning)
-the amount of sexual assaults taking place on college campuses is unacceptable; I can't believe there isn't more being done to figure out how to stop them more often. And I don't think Gladwell quite hit the nail on the head by blaming alcohol more than the objectification of women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Police brutality