{"id":527,"date":"2022-02-05T12:39:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T12:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/?page_id=527"},"modified":"2023-03-02T13:13:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T13:13:12","slug":"talking-to-strangers-summary","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking To Strangers Book Summary: Best Book By Malcolm Gladwell?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you have suffered because of misunderstanding a stranger in the past then Malcolm Gladwell&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Talking-to-Strangers-audiobook\/dp\/B07NJCG1XS\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Talking to Strangers<\/a> is the book for you. The book reveals how naive you can be while judging an unknown person, be it a potential love interest or employee because their initial appearance can be thoroughly misleading.<\/p>\n<p>Talking to Strangers elucidates how incapable you are when it comes to accurately understanding strangers, and also improving it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_62 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Talking_to_Strangers_Book_Summary\" title=\"Talking to Strangers Book Summary\">Talking to Strangers Book Summary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Main_ideas_from_Talking_to_Strangers_summarized\" title=\"Main ideas from Talking to Strangers summarized\">Main ideas from Talking to Strangers summarized<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Circumstances_that_are_unseen_link_directly_to_behavior\" title=\"Circumstances that are unseen link directly to behavior\">Circumstances that are unseen link directly to behavior<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Failure_at_detecting_deception\" title=\"Failure at detecting deception\">Failure at detecting deception<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Functioning_through_truth_assumption\" title=\"Functioning through truth assumption\">Functioning through truth assumption<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Who_should_read_vs_who_shouldnt_read_Talking_to_Strangers\" title=\"Who should read vs. who shouldn&#8217;t read Talking to Strangers?\">Who should read vs. who shouldn&#8217;t read Talking to Strangers?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Review_of_Talking_to_Strangers\" title=\"Review of Talking to Strangers\">Review of Talking to Strangers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/#Should_I_read_the_complete_book_Talking_to_Strangers\" title=\"Should I read the complete book, Talking to Strangers?\">Should I read the complete book, Talking to Strangers?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Talking_to_Strangers_Book_Summary\"><\/span><strong>Talking to Strangers Book Summary<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To condense <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Talking-to-Strangers-audiobook\/dp\/B07NJCG1XS\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Talking to Strangers<\/a>, it can be said that the gut feelings you have are not always to be trusted. The feeling of insecurity that you get when walking alone at night on the street, or on seeing a distrustful individual watching your kids play in the field, maybe justified as human instincts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Talking-to-Strangers-audiobook\/dp\/B07NJCG1XS\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-528\" src=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Talking-To-Stangers-Book-Summary-Malcolm-Gladwell.png\" alt=\"Talking To Stangers Book Summary - Malcolm Gladwell\" width=\"744\" height=\"748\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Talking-To-Stangers-Book-Summary-Malcolm-Gladwell.png 744w, https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Talking-To-Stangers-Book-Summary-Malcolm-Gladwell-298x300.png 298w, https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Talking-To-Stangers-Book-Summary-Malcolm-Gladwell-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 744px) 100vw, 744px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, Gladwell proves through this book that such instincts don&#8217;t hold true when it comes to understanding unknown individuals.<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, you are terrible at judging new faces. Your intuitions are not always beneficial, as they come laced with your preconceived notions and prejudices. These prejudices end up giving you a false judgment of any stranger you come across.<\/p>\n<p>If you already are well-acquainted with the manner and reputation of any individual you will base your understanding on those, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that you are able to understand that individual in the truest sense.<\/p>\n<p>And to prove this, Gladwell has taken references from history, depicting how famous individuals have used strategies to understand unfamiliar people without success.<\/p>\n<p>The manner in which Adolf Hitler managed to fool global leaders; how Bernie Madoff&#8217;s fraudulent activities remain undetected; and Sandra Bland&#8217;s true story- are all covered in the book.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Main_ideas_from_Talking_to_Strangers_summarized\"><\/span><strong>Main ideas from Talking to Strangers summarized<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To depict in a clear manner how difficult it can get to understand someone you don&#8217;t know, Gladwell writes about two different puzzles.<\/p>\n<p>These puzzles call attention to the issues you face while trying to judge a new face:<\/p>\n<p>Why is it that you are unable to decipher if an unknown individual is telling lies to your face?<\/p>\n<p>Why it can be more difficult to get a sense of someone unknown when talking to them eye-to-eye rather than ever talking to them?<\/p>\n<p>To <strong>summarize Talking to Strangers<\/strong>, the ideas that the author aims to convey through this book are the following:<\/p>\n<p><strong>No individual is transparent-<\/strong> You should start realizing that assuming someone to be transparent is not right. The idea of transparency is based on the notion that someone&#8217;s visible manner and attitude give an accurate insight into their internal feelings. However, this common-sense-based assumption of yours is nothing but an illusion.<\/p>\n<p>If you think that by observing an unknown individual you can get an understanding of them, then you couldn&#8217;t be more wrong. There are researches proving that humans are awfully terrible at finding out the true intentions of strangers, even while making eye-to-eye contact.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Circumstances_that_are_unseen_link_directly_to_behavior\"><\/span><strong>Circumstances that are unseen link directly to behavior<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>By analyzing suicide over time, especially at the time of World War II, Gladwell comes to the conclusion that the act of suicide happens to be coupled with the physical environment.<\/p>\n<p>In the book, Gladwell talks about how you may place emphasis on transparency on such a great level that you tend to neglect the underlying context of a stranger. This misleading belief can cost you dearly and even lead to disastrous results.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Failure_at_detecting_deception\"><\/span><strong>Failure at detecting deception<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>While you are good at judging individuals on the basis of how they behave, it doesn&#8217;t always hold true. To elucidate this Gladwell uses the example of a fraudster, Bernie Madoff Ponzi. Even an experienced journalist in the world of finance was unable to accept after an interview with Ponzi that he was nothing but a fraud.<\/p>\n<p>You may think that judging individuals is easy but in many cases, you are left befuddled by discrepancies in which deceptive people pretend to be honest, while the actually honest ones behave shiftily.<\/p>\n<p>Tim Levine researched deception detection to find that people with expertise in fields like law enforcement too cannot identify if someone is speaking the truth. Levine, through his research, concluded that a meager 14% of the total cases studied were able to identify the liars correctly.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Functioning_through_truth_assumption\"><\/span><strong>Functioning through truth assumption<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The human mind is inclined towards truth. In general, you tend to have faith in an individual despite raising doubts in your mind, till such time that you see red flags that ascertain your doubts. And this tendency to assume the truthfulness in others is critical if a society has to function properly.<\/p>\n<p>However, at certain times it can help for you to be a &#8216;Holy Fool.&#8217; This term is derived from mythology and describes a truth-teller who is an outcast for revealing awkward truths, or for asking questions that no one else does.<\/p>\n<p>There is a &#8216;Holy Fool&#8217; version in each culture across the globe, as such individuals serve the purpose of not trusting by default. Being a &#8216;Holy Fool&#8217; can allow you to be a boundary breaker, a killjoy, or even a person who bursts the bubbles of the over-optimistic.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Who_should_read_vs_who_shouldnt_read_Talking_to_Strangers\"><\/span><strong>Who should read vs. who shouldn&#8217;t read Talking to Strangers?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>summary of Talking to Strangers<\/strong> explains why this book is for you if you are a 50-year-old judge believing that you make unbiased decisions, or a 32-year-old entrepreneur interacting with several unfamiliar faces daily. This book is also for you if you want to study faces to understand their feelings better. In fact, the book is meant for everyone, and you should waste no time in buying the book for a read.<\/p>\n<p>However, individuals with severe mental illnesses should refrain from reading this book.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Review_of_Talking_to_Strangers\"><\/span><strong>Review of Talking to Strangers<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Talking to Strangers offers some strong points as takeaway, which can help you understand unfamiliar individuals better, which include:<\/p>\n<p>First off, you cannot avert interacting with strangers, it is something constant that you cannot change<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is a need to trust unknown individuals you come in contact with, as it helps society to function properly<\/li>\n<li>No one knows for sure how to judge someone by their appearance, and confirm if they are worth your trust<\/li>\n<li>Stay alert when it comes to the risk of &#8216;coupling&#8217;, for example, keep your house firearm-free if someone in your family is battling depression<\/li>\n<li>While there is a need for more &#8216;Holy Fools&#8217; in today&#8217;s society, none of us look forward to encountering more of such individuals<\/li>\n<li>It is evident that interaction with unknown individuals doesn&#8217;t make you a better judge of that individual, but you need to at least be aware of this fact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, the <strong>Talking to Strangers Summary<\/strong> also makes it clear to me that much of the view provided in the book is narrow. There is some amount of biases in the text, and the constricted opinion, rather than scientific and objective approach, is thoroughly visible all through.<\/p>\n<p>But, there is very little doubt that this book will do you good rather than harm. It will help you see things you have never considered up until now. You will not regret adding this book to your collection.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Should_I_read_the_complete_book_Talking_to_Strangers\"><\/span><strong>Should I read the complete book, Talking to Strangers?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Now that I have <strong>summarized Talking to Strangers<\/strong>, it is time to tell you whether you should read the complete book or not. Yes, and the reason for spending time on this book is that this book gives you a better understanding of why you are bad at evaluating of truthfulness and intentions of unfamiliar people. It will also help you with identifying the real problems behind this inability to judge strangers through examples and historical accounts that mostly remain unheard of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have suffered because of misunderstanding a stranger in the past then Malcolm Gladwell&#8217;s Talking to Strangers is the book for you. The book reveals how naive you can be while judging an unknown person, be it a potential love interest or employee because their initial appearance can be thoroughly misleading. Talking to Strangers &#8230; <a title=\"Talking To Strangers Book Summary: Best Book By Malcolm Gladwell?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/books\/talking-to-strangers-summary\/\" aria-label=\"More on Talking To Strangers Book Summary: Best Book By Malcolm Gladwell?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/527\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestsellersummary.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}