Happy New Year, and welcome to the Pretty and Smart Book Club! In 2021 we resolve to read more and uplift one another while doing it. What better way to promote self-improvement than sharing our favourite reads?
January Book Club Selection:
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know (Malcolm Gladwell)
Judging the book by its (back) cover:
“How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn”t true?
While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version ofTalking to Strangers, you”ll hear the voices of people he interviewed–scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There’s even a theme song – Janelle Monae”s “Hell You Talmbout.”
Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world.”
Why we love it:
Gladwell uses engaging stories to demonstrate the impossibility of determining people’s true intentions and why the benefit of the doubt is crucial to society. If you don’t have time to read it, we would definitely recommend the audiobook. Gladwell’s production value is incredible (like a high-quality podcast)!
Want more entertainment? Read Alice’s post on what to watch from 2020!
