Knowingo
The cover of Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers

Malcolm Gladwell, 2019

Why do we misread strangers? Spies, con men, police stops and campus assaults show how our instinct to trust, and our faith that faces reveal feelings, lead us wrong.

Get the app Read on the web

13 parts, about 23 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Explains why we misjudge people we do not know, through three ideas: we default to truth, we assume transparency, and we ignore context
  • Uses spy cases, a Ponzi scheme, a murder trial and a campus sexual assault case to show how trust and demeanor mislead us
  • Applies coupling and hot spot policing research to a Texas traffic stop and the jail death that followed, and blames a collective failure

Who it is for

  • Readers who trust their gut about whether someone is lying
  • People who interview or negotiate with people they just met
  • Readers thinking about policing, trust and public blame

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction: Step Out of the Car1 min
  2. Spies and Diplomats: Fidel Castro’s Revenge1 min
  3. Getting to Know der Führer2 min
  4. Default to Truth: The Queen of Cuba2 min
  5. The Holy Fool1 min
  6. Case Study: The Boy in the Shower3 min
  7. Transparency: The Friends Fallacy1 min
  8. A (Short) Explanation of the Amanda Knox Case1 min
  9. Case Study: The Fraternity Party3 min
  10. Lessons: KSM, What Happens When the Stranger Is a Terrorist?2 min
  11. Coupling: Sylvia Plath2 min
  12. Case Study: The Kansas City Experiments1 min
  13. Sandra Bland3 min

Recommended by

  • Oprah WinfreyO, The Oprah 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.

About the author

  • Malcolm GladwellBritish Canadian journalist and New Yorker staff writer
    • Born 3 September 1963 in Fareham, Hampshire, England
    • History degree from Trinity College, University of Toronto, 1984
    • Covered business and science for The Washington Post 1987 to 1996
    • Member of the Order of Canada, 2011

Read it alongside

  • Goes deeperHope for Cynics

    Gladwell says default trust supports social cooperation and should not be punished; Zaki adds that institutional harm can make distrust reasonable, so institutions must earn trust.

  • Goes deeperRevenge of the Tipping Point

    Malcolm Gladwell links suicide to a moment and available means; his later book adds how a tight social monoculture can weaken protective buffers.

More books like this