Talking to Strangers

What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the number-one New York Times best seller Outliers, reinvents the audiobook in this immersive production of Talking to Strangers, a powerful examination of our interactions with people we don’t know.

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.

The audiobook edition of Talking to Strangers was an instant number-one best seller, and was one of the most pre-ordered audiobooks in history. It seamlessly marries audiobooks and podcasts, creating a completely new and real listening experience.

©2019 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Malcolm Gladwell is a fabulous narrator of his latest book... His pleasing tone, phrasing palette, and exceptional skill with dramatic pauses all sound natural, yet add sparkling energy to his writing." (AudioFile Magazine)

"Talking to Strangers is a must-read...I love this book.... Reading it will actually change not just how you see strangers, but how you look at yourself, the news - the world.... Reading this book changed me." (Oprah Winfrey, O, The Oprah Magazine)

"Gladwell has again delivered a compelling, conversation-starting read.... At a time when the world feels intractably polarized, a book examining the varying ways we misinterpret or fail to communicate with one another could not feel more necessary.... With a mix of reporting, research and a deft narrative hand, Gladwell illuminates these examples with the page-turning urgency of a paperback thriller." (Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times)

Sandra Bland did not commit suicide

That's how I came into this book. I wanted to see how Gladwell came to this conclusion. I came into the story from the wrong angle. Gladwell opened my eyes to critically think about how I interact with people, and what I come away thinking about them. Why some people make me so mad, why I make some people so mad. I'm a mismatched person - even those who are closest to me will say. I'm recommending this book to everyone I know. It's needed now more than ever when many of us feel on the cusp of a shift in - not only the USA - but the world. How do we see each other and how do we get each other so wrong? Our interpretations of our interactions with strangers differ greatly from how they see things. Malcolm answers the why in a way that allows the reader to critically think about their own behavior. It's certainly why emojis and exclamation points are so important in our modern society. But our faces are not emojis. This book was money well spent. I could not put it down and will listen again soon.

Outstanding

I just plowed through this book in a day and a half; I couldn’t stop listening. I have hundreds of audiobooks in my Audible library, and Talking to Strangers is now in my top 5. The book itself is fascinating and extremely well written, and the production is outstanding. I’ve been waiting for this book to release for months, and it was well worth the wait.

Sound Reasons For Thought.

Finishing this book made me want to say something brilliant and insightful for a review. I have attempted for hours and have realized that I am no Malcolm Gladwell. Thank you very much for making me want to try.

Difficult Topic, Covered Well

In Talking to Strangers, Gladwell does what (I believe) he does best. He presents examples that explain interesting findings and occurrences. In this case, many of the occurrences are tragic and some are horrible. I found the introduction to the book off-putting because I wanted to learn some tantalizing and elusive facts from Gladwell as I have in the past. The facts presented in Talking to Strangers are not elusive. While some chapters are tantalizing - such as the studies of transparency - the conclusions drawn are, well, disturbing.

I'm certain there is more to the story. I'm equally certain Gladwell started with an agenda and artfully accomplished his goal of providing evidence he found compelling to support his conclusions. I;m convinced more evidence can and will be presented to attempt to debunk Gladwell's points, some may succeed.

This doesn't make Gladwell wrong.

He presents a point-of-view shared by many. If one gets nothing else from listening to this audio book (do yourself a favor and listen to the audio book), one should glean a respect for "why" some people behave as they do and the limits of our ability to "read" others - especially others we do not know; i.e. strangers.

Awesome book

Needless to say I am a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan. This book was very insightful to the nature of human beings and gives great perspective on our pitfalls and blind spots. I thoroughly enjoy this book. Also the podcast style narrating of the book was a great touch. Thank you!!!

A must read

I was a little worried about how good this book was going to be when I first started. I thought it was going to be political. It’s was so much better than I could have expect. This book is easily top 3 favorite book of mine

Fantastic listen!

Fans of Malcolm Gladwell will not be disappointed!
Highly recommend this book to everyone, another hit for Gladwell!

8 hours of well produced engaging content.

amazing audiobook. listening feels like binging a podcast. high production value incredibly interesting. 10/10 recommend.

A must read

I just finished the audio version of Talking to Strangers. I love Gladwell’s work, and this was no different. I’m Talking, Gladwell is willing to ask hard questions of all of us, not willing to give in to pay or simplistic answers for some of the most pressing and complicated issues we currently face.

The “new” approach to doing an audio book was enjoyable. The direct interviews and audio recordings made the book feel very much like a good podcast, so much so that as the book came to an end, I couldn’t believe I’d already listened to ten hours worth of material.

Overall, this book should be filed under “must read.”

So glad that I chose the audible book

the fact that it was narrated by the author and reenactments and recordings were provided for each case he examines is phenomenal and a huge value-add. I am glad that it expanded past the general optics of black lives vs blue lives that the media has perpetuated and expanded it to fundamentals and the fallacies that have been ingrained in US. I definitely believe his attempts to cover the conundrum that we are currently facing in America gives me food for thought as all of his works do. it was a phenomenal piece and so thought-provoking. I highly recommend you not only read this book or buy the book but you purchase the audible version.