Book Review: Talking to Strangers

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Overview

Title: Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Genre: Non-Fiction

Themes: Psychology, Communications

Publish Year: 2019

ISBN-10: 0316478520

Amazon: Buy Here

Utility: 2/5

Readability: 4/5

Storytelling: 3/5

Literary Quality: 3/5

Pace: 3/5

Impact: 2/5

Favorite Excerpt/Quote

"Folk psychology is the kind of crude psychology we glean from cultural sources such as sitcoms. But that is not the way things happen in real life. Transparency is a myth -- an idea we've picked up from watching too much television and reading too many novels where the hero's "jaw dropped with astonishment" or "eyes went wide with surprise." (Gladwell, 162)

Review

Malcolm Gladwell's Talking to Strangers is a wildly underwhelming work for a renowned author. The book dives into the science of miscommunication, moving from a focus on lying and deception, to psychological fallacies in judgments, to the impact of environments on the formed perceptions of others. However, the book revolves around a surprising simple thesis—that we struggle in interactions with strangers. The novel and its countless anecdotes all exemplify the author's thesis, but oversimplified analysis and the abhorrent lack of solutions leave the reader waiting for resolve.

The most striking problem with Talking to Strangers is the lack of solutions offered by the author. Gladwell utilizes a plethora of anecdotes and case studies to exemplify the many ways that we miscommunicate with others but fails to relate them beyond the fact they exemplify miscommunication. At the beginning of the novel, Gladwell keens in on examples of deception, one being that of spies infiltrating the FBI. He spends time narrating the story and breaking down the mechanisms which allowed them to do so. However, the explanation fails to journey any deeper and Gladwell fails to provide further insights on how to combat these blind spots. We trust people too easily, are influenced by the cultural norms of our environments, are mislead by television to over-rely on facial expression—all are points made in the book, but little to no solutions are proposed. Unfortunately, this pattern of explanation without solutions is repeated in just about every example. This leads anecdotes to feel repetitive and leaves the reader wondering how to combat the psychological and communicative fallacies introduced.

Another striking problem with Talking to Strangers is the oversimplification of concepts. Gladwell lays out famous examples of miscommunication from interactions with Hitler, to Bernie Madoff, to Jerry Sandusky. However, all examples seem to focus on single points. The death of Sandra Bland was a result of misapplied policing strategy, Brock Turner raping a Chanel Miller was a product of alcohol and frat culture, and the suicides of poets such as Sylvia Plath were results of opportunistic environments. The oversimplification of such traumatic events completely ignores the complex nuances of psychology and communications.

The lack of solutions and oversimplification of anecdotes gives the impression the author was going for shock value rather than the more practical goal of prescribing solutions. The result is an underwhelming and shallow book that offers very little utility to a reader. I certainly expected much more from an established author.

Overall Rating

Underwhelming with little value: 2.8/5

Citation

Gladwell, Malcolm. Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know. , 2019. Print.