"Talking To Stanger" By Malcolm Gladwell, A Book For The Moment

"Talking To Strangers", a book for the moment

Malcolm Gladwell has become known to explore topics, both gravely serious and as well as more light and entertaining, right before or at the time that they become resurgent in society. In some cases it appears it is his books that may make them popular, in others he just so happens to explore them and release a book at exactly the time society is ready for it. Having brought to popular culture many individual stories that are not always well popularized, then knitting them together into well constructed larger concepts that can shift the thinking of many, or a majority of society, is something to Malcolm Gladwell has become known for. Gladwell has again successfully devised, researched, and released such a book in time for it to be truly needed. At a moment where the United States wrestles with questions of how can we better understand policing practices, with some people are questioning if there is a problem and others believe that the future of policing requires getting rid of everyone who is currently an officer, "Talking To Strangers" is a great book to focus that thinking.

Having released his first book "Tipping Point", in 2000, with the over arching concept of how movements or large scale events can go from fringe or an extreme minority to mass adoption or global effect quickly by reaching certain thresholds, the concept and function once brought forward was used by startups in planning scale up and growth, helped explain the concept of viral videos before viral videos were popular, created new acknowledgement of how health epidemics and pandemics work (some of which has been successfully applied by leaders to current pandemic measures), and generally highlighted how ideas can be spread en masse. "Talking To Strangers" has a stated object of exploring how people communicate, address, and receive information from strangers, but has a much more covert goal which is revealed only after Gladwell has given foundation, highlighted a few key concepts, and built up his most important chapter, the story of Sandra Bland, a story which helps highlight short comings in policing as well as potential solutions.

Better As An Audio Book (a controversial position I know)

First and foremost, I rarely, if ever, think that an audio book is a better experience than a physical, turn the pages, smell the paper version of the book. I have occasionally used audio books for long drives or to catch up on reading while driving to and from work, but don't typically think they do a better job of telling a story than me reading the book myself, the Audible original audio book of "Talking To Strangers" is an exception. Available Here Not only have the actual interviews referenced in the book been inserted into the narration, allowing the listener to hear an interviewers voice and words from their own lips, but news clips and other recordings have been added to the narration of the text instead of them simply being described. Most importantly however, while building to the point of telling, and often teasing, Sandra Bland's story and building the basis of explanation of the difficulties in communicating to and receiving information from strangers, Gladwell gives a more profound hint at one major point he wants you to take away, the audio book has the song "Hell You Talmbout" by Janelle Talmout scored between chapters and in pauses in the book. For those unfamiliar, it is a call to remember black lives lost to over and aggressive policing leading up to its release in 2015, mentioning Sandra Bland, Trevon Martin, Eric Garner, and many others, a strong hint to the overall conclusion surrounding the difficulties of talking to strangers for policing, as well as how the structure of policing has addressed that difficulty, or perhaps failed to do so.

Basic Concepts And Building A Single Chapter

As is his way, Malcom Gladwell has used the first 10 chapters of "Talking To Strangers" to establish concepts so he can make a point. Key concepts build to be understood that have application in everyday life include "truth default theory"- concept that people are generally being honest unless you see a signal that they aren't telling the truth, "transparency"- the often false concepts that one person can observe the truth in a stranger by observation, and "Coupling"- the concept that 2 things can be related in such a way that an event will not take place if you change the place or (as an example in the book) remove a potential method of suicide. Once building these concepts, Gladwell launches into making a valuable point. In Chapter 11 he highlights the case of Kansas city experiments which help to encourage aggressive policing practices in other parts of the country, even as the other parts of the country missed the key point that the practices were meant for extreme areas of crime, leading to over policing and negative outcomes. Finally, in Chapter 12th, Gladwell tells the story of Sandra Bland. For those that do not remember, Sandra Bland was pulled over for not using a turn signal when shifting lanes after a police officer passed by her, what should not have been a pull over escalated, was arrested, and later would die in jail. The details are played out in a reverent and powerful way and help to hammer the point home. The way the officer approached policing was the problem and the officer was following his training.