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  • Talking to Strangers

  • What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know
  • Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (7,006 ratings)

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Talking to Strangers

Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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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

What the critics say

"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)



Our favourite moments from Talking to Strangers

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About the Creator and Performer

Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, author, and podcaster. He is the host of the podcasts Revisionist History and Broken Record and co-founder of the audio production company Pushkin Industries. For his sixth audiobook, the #1 New York Times audio best-seller Talking to Strangers, he drew on real-life audio–including archival footage and clips from his own interviews—to incorporate the production techniques of a podcast into the audiobook format. It has been praised by Audible listeners as "a new era in audiobooks…and maybe in relating to others." He has also written and narrated The Tipping Point (2000); Blink (2005); Outliers (2008); and David and Goliath (2013), all of which are New York Times best-sellers. Gladwell’s books and articles often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences, particularly sociology, psychology, and social psychology. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2011 and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He lives in New York.

Photographed by Celeste Sloman

Editorial Review

In his Audible audiobook Talking to Strangers, best-selling writer Malcolm Gladwell turns his keen eye on our relationship with strangers. Why do we so often fail to communicate? Why are we so bad at detecting when someone is deceiving us? Why did people trust Bernie Madoff with their money?

Narrated by Malcolm Gladwell himself, the Audible audiobook edition of Talking to Strangers draws on a cast of characters to create an immersive listening experience. Gladwell, who grew up in Ontario and is half Jamaican, is gifted with a clear and precise tone and dramatic pacing. You’ll revisit infamous deceptions, such as Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, and hear the voices of many of the players in real-life tragedies riddled with misunderstandings, such as the trial of Amanda Knox. There are interviews with scientists, criminologists, and psychologists as well as reenactments of court transcripts. The audio footage of Sandra Bland’s contentious arrest for failing to signal at an intersection in Texas is a visceral example of an exchange gone wrong. The protest song “Hell You Talmbout” by singer Janelle Monae is aptly used as the soundtrack.

Inspired by the number of high profile cases in the news about what he thought of as “strangers misunderstanding each other”, Gladwell challenges our false assumptions when encountering people we don’t know and how these can have dangerous repercussions not only for us but society at large.

Talking to Strangers is Malcolm Gladwell’s sixth title. It was one of the bestselling Canadian titles in 2019 and its Audible audiobook edition is one of the most pre-ordered in history. In addition to finding success on both sides of the border, it won a 2019 AudioFile Magazine Earphone Award. Gladwell is also the host of the popular podcast, Revisionist History.

" The extra effects in this book go a long way: from the use of music and sound effects, to the recreation of conversations with actors, Gladwell was able to bring to life his subject matter in a way that never fails to engage."

Sean M., Audible Listener

What listeners say about Talking to Strangers

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zero insight

This book contained 1 simple overarching idea which was just drawn out through the entire book. It lacked insight or original ideas. Very disappointed. This is the last benefit of the doubt I give to Malcolm Gladwell.

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45 people found this helpful

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jargon

bought this based on Gladwell's reputation, but this book did not live up to its expectations. I felt like the author was talking but not saying anything. I was expecting a book filled with psychology and human behavior analysis, but all it was was a book filled with random stories thrown together. sure, there was a good point here n there but majority of the book was a disappointment.

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31 people found this helpful

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A relevant and relatable look into psychology

From Hilter to Amanda Knox, the CIA to Cuba, and a lot of other examples, Talking to Strangers takes the psychological theories put forth by others and applies them to some fascinating case studies of histories famed, fortunate and and misfortune. The use of voice recordings and voice reenactment make the message of the book that much more personal while the constant relationship between chapters and the constant building up help us understand how we think the way we do. A great podcast-esque audiobook which is easily digested and highly informative

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Cognitive dissonance at the highest level

I was excited for this book based on my preconceived notion of what it would entail. However, talking to strangers is the title and motivation given to justify writing a book about this authors feelings towards one unfortunate event. It appears as if he starts with the premise of 'I dislike this one event and it was due to x, y, z bad reason, and I'm going to work backwards to justify writing a book about it'. For someone who should be intelligent, the level of cognitive dissonance at play is incredible. His ability to use sound reasoning to reach a certain conclusion, and then throw in entirely unsubstantiated content to achieve his desired point is obvious and discrediting. While capable of logic, when presented with information the author admits he feels strongly about, he appears unable to use his logic but defaults to an emotion response, even if it goes directly against the line of logic he has recently demonstrated. While there were some interesting and informative parts. The main premises appear to be lacking in any form of justification and the author expects you to just go along with it so he can tell you why he is right, and why you should also feel that way. I felt it was lacking in terms of substantiating critical claims, which if substantiated would have been impressive, but it appears to lack that substantiation because the author simply could not substantiate the claim, but wanted to use it as a premise for his idea of what happened, so uses a number of fallacies to achieve his end goal hoping no one catches on. If only the author actually tried to view his work from an objective position, or 'outside the issue' looking in, instead of being consumed by it and from within it, he may have been able to write a decent book. In the meantime, I was disappointed with 90% of the book. I finished it in the hope that the end justified the means, but the author failed to do that also. I feel as if someone has tried to manipulate me through intellectual dishonesty just so they can claim to champion some cause, which has the unfortunate effect of the author missing the entire point altogether.

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16 people found this helpful

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Expected more

For the level of endorsements it received expected a lot more than just stories on how people did not talk to strangers correctly and led to downfall - little insight to skills or tools to use in own future interactions.

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  • 2020-01-19

Long winded. Preachy. Trite.

At times somewhat entertaining but overall a few observations, with one-sided cheery picked facts, spread over hours

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8 people found this helpful

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Another great read by Malcolm Gladwell

I love reading his books, but it's so much better to listen to him read them.

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Best Audibook Ever

I was a big fan of Gladwell’s “Revisionist History,” so when he described this audiobook as a new kind for the medium, I knew it wouldn’t be disappointing. The extra effects in this book go a long way: from the use of music and sound effects, to the recreation of conversations with actors, Gladwell was able to bring to life his subject matter in a way that never failed to engage. I will certainly listen to this book again. Fascinating from beginning to end.

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Another genius novel from Malcolm Gladwell

The title really says it all. If you are like me a big fan of his other books and enjoy his podcasts, you will certainly enjoy his new book! Interestingly enough, he adapted this audiobook to include recordings of his conversations with the subject of each chapter, much resembling the structure of his podcast Revisionist History. A truly amazing look into the interactions and misunderstandings we have of strangers. He looks deeply into the historical and societal impacts of our inability to read each others minds.

It might be my new favourite book...

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Did I miss the point?

I walked away from this book with what I already knew before reading it... "don't judge strangers". The stories were entertaining, sad, thought-provoking, but nothing worth 8.42 hours. Maybe I went into reading it with the wrong mindset...as in I'm going to learn something about strangers other than not to have a predetermined opinion of them.

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