TALKING TO STRANGERS

by Malcolm Gladwell

I would like to believe that I have some solid insight when it comes to selecting the books I read.  I have read some of Malcolm Gladwell’s books in the past and remember him (and them) as entertaining.  I realize that anyone with any serious knowledge of statistics finds him less-than-academic.  But, he also can write things that are just plain interesting to read.  You know, along the lines of FREAKONOMICS (Dubner and Leavitt) – hard-to-believe yet great fodder for conversations with friends.  So, when my husband and I were looking for our next read-aloud book, I thought Talking to Strangers might fit the bill.

Gladwell approaches Talking to Strangers with an interesting premise:  that we as individuals have not developed reliable strategies to understand people that we do not know.  He extends this idea from individual people to different economic and racial groups and to political leaders and whole societies.  The implications of not being able to understand people who differ from us, he argues, are disastrous.  But, I believe that Gladwell could have explored this premise in a long-format magazine article.  Instead, he bulked it up to a 355-page book.  If you’re a quick reader and find his premise interesting, go for it. For the rest of us normal-paced readers, I have to say Talking to Strangers is not my cup of tea.  (Liz)