Malcolm Gladwell examines why encounters with strangers go wrong so often, arguing that people default to trusting what they're told, misread unfamiliar faces and emotions, and assume that behavior in an unfamiliar setting means what it would mean at home. Through cases including the unmasking of Cuban double agents, the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox, Neville Chamberlain's meetings with Hitler, and the traffic stop that killed Sandra Bland, he traces how these built-in blind spots produce real catastrophes. The book is less about how to spot a liar than about why we should be humble about how little a face-to-face meeting actually tells us.
Books mentioned in Talking to Strangers (23)
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: “My father read Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities to me and my brothers when we were children, and at the very end, when Sydney Carton dies in Charles Darney's place, my father wept.”
History of the Conquest of Mexico by William H. Prescott: “Confrontation between Cortés and Montezuma: William Prescott, History of the Conquest of Mexico (New York: Modern Library, 1980).”
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton: ““Sleepmonger, deathmonger…I’m on a diet from death”: Anne Sexton, “The Addict,” in The Complete Poems (New York: Open Road Media, 2016), p.”
Henry V by William Shakespeare: “In her cubicle, she had a quotation from Shakespeare’s Henry V taped to her wall at eye level—for all the world to see.”
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: ““Cal seemed pleased…I turned back”: Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar (London: Faber and Faber, 1966), pp.”
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell: “In my second book, Blink (Little, Brown and Company, 2005), I devoted a large chunk of Chapter Six, “Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Art of Mind Reading,” to a discussion of the work of Paul Ekman, one of the most important psychologists of the last century.”
Mein Kampf by Adolph Hitler: “He should have stayed home and read Mein Kampf.”
The Inner Circle by Ivone Kirkpatrick: “Faber is quoting from British diplomat Ivone Kirkpatrick’s account of the event in his memoir, The Inner Circle (London: Macmillan & Company, 1959), p.”
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: “In 1872, thirteen years after first presenting his famous treatise on evolution, Charles Darwin published The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.”
Tactics for Criminal Patrol by Charles Remsberg: “The bible for post–Kansas City policing is called Tactics for Criminal Patrol, by Charles Remsberg.”
Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest Spymaster by Markus Wolf: ““we were in the enviable position…to the Americans.”: Here Fischer quotes from Markus Wolf, with Anne McElvoy, Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism’s Greatest Spymaster (New York: Times Books/Random House, 1997), p.”
Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton—The CIA's Master Spy Hunter by Tom Mangold: “‘…shrank dramatically’: The account and quotes in the footnote about Angleton’s search for a mole in the CIA are from Tom Mangold, Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton—The CIA’s Master Spy Hunter (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), pp.”
Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir by Amanda Knox: ““I’d do things…fall-over hilarious”: Amanda Knox, Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir (New York: Harper, 2013), pp.”
Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View by Stanley Milgram: “the full statistics from the Milgram experiment: Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1969), p.”
The Making of a Poem by Stephen Spender: ““A poet has to adapt himself” (in footnote): Stephen Spender, The Making of a Poem (New York: Norton Library, 1961), p.”
The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico by Bernal Díaz del Castillo: ““When we saw so many cities”: Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1928), p.”
Darwin and Facial Expression by Paul Ekman: “See Paul Ekman, ed., Darwin and Facial Expression (Los Altos, Calif.: Malor Books, 2006).”
Ethnology of the Western Mixe by Ralph Beals: ““Although I probably…embrace each other”: Ralph Beals, Ethnology of the Western Mixe (New York: Cooper Square Publishers Inc., 1973), p.”
The Neville Chamberlain Diary Letters: Volume Four: The Downing Street Years, 1934–1940 by Neville Chamberlain: ““Halfway down the steps…the house painter he was”: Neville Chamberlain to Ida Chamberlain, September 19, 1938, in Robert Self, ed., The Neville Chamberlain Diary Letters: Volume Four: The Downing Street Years, 1934–1940 (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005), p.”
Death in Perugia by John Follain: “Just listen to a handful of quotations that I’ve taken—at random—from the British journalist John Follain’s Death in Perugia.”