Talking to strangers

What you should know about people you don't know

What are the internal mechanisms that come into play when we meet strangers and make us trust them spontaneously?

How did Fidel Castro manage to fool the CIA for thirty years?

Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are we so bad at judging someone, reading a face, detecting a lie?

According to Gladwell, there is something seriously wrong with the tools and strategies we employ to understand people we don't know. Through puzzles, encounters, and misunderstandings—from little-known stories to famous legal cases—Talking to Strangers is an unexpected journey into history and human psychology.

After the bestsellers David and Goliath and People Who Stand Out, Malcolm Gladwell offers a guide to turbulent times, because... the unknown is never a simple matter.

Best Book of 2019 by The Financial Times, Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg

They said about the book:

"This book changes not only the way you see strangers but also how you see yourself."
–Oprah Winfrey

"At a time when the world feels the incredible polarization that is sweeping through it, a book that examines the myriad ways in which we misunderstand others or fail to communicate with them seems more necessary than ever..."
–Los Angeles Times

"Gladwell uses compelling real-world examples to reveal the hows and whys behind our interactions with the people we are trying to understand."
–Forbes