Summary of Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell: Key Takeaways & Analysis Included

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Short on time? Or maybe you've already read the book, but need a refresh on the most important takeaways. In a quick, easy listen, you can take the main principles from Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell is a number one New York Times bestseller that shows people how their tendencies to judge strangers based on the assumption of truth, facial expressions, and without context can be hazardous to decisions. It's inevitable that people will try to make sense of those they don't know; however, many of the strategies people use to do so gives us no valuable information. Accordingly, we must be aware of these potential errors in how we perceive strangers, people who impact the way we handle crucial situations in our lives.

Gladwell uses extensive examples-stories, studies, and characters-to show how people interact with strangers as well as the chaos that doing so can cause. From Bernie Madoff to Sylvia Plath, a wide range of important people are used in Talking to Strangers to illustrate how deeply the way we talk to those we don't know impacts us. Further, the author expertly weaves these stories into his book, interconnecting them and crafting his ideas with ease for the reader. The book builds up to show how the arrest and subsequent suicide of Sandra Bland was caused by people's inability to appropriately talk to strangers.