Talking to Strangers

Unsettling and uncomfortable. While I understand the title, it's misleading, and the subject matter differed significantly from my expectations. That's OK. A title like The Multiple Facets Around Every Issue or Why America Is So Divided Over Police Officers would be more accurate, but not as catchy.

This book will challenge your beliefs about events you thought were both clear and decided. Whichever side you fell on. The book is messy because life is far messier than we acknowledge, and truth more elusive than we realize.

I've read several of Gladwell's books now and have enjoyed each of them, including this one, which I received for Christmas. In customary fashion, Gladwell teases out unexpected (and likely valid) conclusions from data and studies not followed by the general populous. While I have enjoyed his other books more for this quality, the focus of this book is itself difficult but necessary to grasp -- what mistakes observers repeatedly make in analyzing the speech, conduct, and habits of strangers (and how we are primed to make such mistakes). It's a worthwhile subject handled in an illustrative and deliberate manner. Worth one's time.