Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers is a non-fiction book by Malcolm Gladwell. This edition is presented as an audiobook, created with listening in mind.

Key details

• Audiobook edition
• Written by Malcolm Gladwell
• Includes interview audio with contributors such as scientists, criminologists and military psychologists
• Features re-enactments drawn from court transcripts
• Includes a theme song: Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout”

Synopsis

Gladwell examines why people so often misread those they do not know, framing the discussion through questions that range from political judgement to the assumptions we absorb from popular culture. Along the way, he considers cases and public events including Fidel Castro and the CIA, Neville Chamberlain’s trust in Adolf Hitler, campus sexual assault, and what television sitcoms may suggest about everyday interaction.

Designed for audio as well as the page, the audiobook incorporates voices from interviews and dramatised material from court records, including the arrest of Sandra Bland in Texas. It also revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, with contributions from people connected to these real-life tragedies.