chase_acow

"How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn't true?

While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's 'Hell You Talmbout.'

Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world."


I loved this audiobook. It took me a while to finish it but only because the research is presented so well and I kept getting angry about all the bad things that have happened basically by accident and because so many people have such closed minds. I think everybody should read or listen to this book. The last section is basically why the police decided to evolve in such a way that makes them repugnant to most normal interactions with them. I think it should be mandatory reading/listening for every cop.

I will give a content warning, that the actual audio with Sandra Bland and that asshole officer is at the end and it is really hard to listen to. But by that point, you have the data to understand why the cop should never have been there, and how badly trained they are. The author cares so much, and is so disappointed that things like this are still happening.