An illuminating view of the way our interactions and communication with others can be distorted and misconstrued. There were various interesting theories throughout this book to explain why people tend to either believe or disbelieve people based on how they act and appear to behave to strangers.

The first theory was “Default to Truth”: this is to automatically believe exactly what they are saying and how they present themselves when they are saying it, whether or not they are actually telling the truth or not. A great example in the book is when deciding bail for a defendant who has been arrested awaiting trial. There was a research experiment done that pitted an experienced judge who decided who got out on bail before trial against an algorithm that based bail decisions solely on the data given. You can guess who did better and most of you would be wrong, it was the algorithm. Yes, the algorithm did better without actually seeing or hearing any of the pertinent information from the defendant. There were red flag data points that the algorithm automatically took into consideration that the judge waived away based solely on whether the defendant “seemed” like they were innocent or remorseful, which unfortunately let very dangerous criminals out onto the public streets again, to possibly cause more harm to the community.

The next interesting theory was called “Coupling”. This theory is in response to suicide being considered a result of the person deciding on any means possible to end their lives. Gladwell writes that instead it becomes a matter of circumstances and method of ending their lives. Case in point, Sylvia Plath’s death by means of turning on the gas and sticking her head in the oven. It is debated in the chapter whether or not Sylvia would have found another way to kill herself if “Town Gas” wasn’t around at the time of her death. This form of energy was high in carbon monoxide and many people in the UK used the same method of suicide in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The government in the UK phased out “Town Gas” and replaced it with the cleaner, less carbon dense “Natural Gas” which is still used to this day. This theory of “Coupling” is also used to debate the use of a net that would be attached to San Francisco’s iconic Golden State Bridge. People against the net were misguided on the idea that someone who was suicidal would have found another bridge or method if they were determined. As it turns out though, when they finally decided to put a net up, the rates of people attempting suicide on this particular bridge dropped significantly.

The chapter about the effect of alcohol on sexual encounters and generally the “Myopic Theory” of alcohol’s effect on the brain was/is the best of the entire book IMO. It goes to shows that with enough detailed and thorough thought put into something as sensitive as sexual assault on campus, you can make a compelling argument. He explained it so simply about the effect of alcohol on basic decision making that you wouldn’t normally do when you are sober, that I was surprised that no one has really made a better argument sooner.

The book ultimately builds up to the tragic case and death of Sandra Bland, who had a seemingly benign traffic pull-over for failure to signal. She had just moved to Texas and landed a new job at a local college and was on her way home when she noticed the police officer behind her. She moved out the way thinking that he was just going to pass her on his way to an emergency call, but instead he pulled her over. The interaction escalates from there with Sandra Bland and the increasing annoyed police officer. He does not or simply cannot understand why Sandra is responding to him in the way that she is throughout all of it. She gets increasingly agitated and is arrested when the offending officer loses his patience with her. Sandra dies days later after her arrest in her cell, found hanging from a bunch of plastic bags. Gladwell goes into all of the theories that he outlines in his book to explain why Sandra Bland and the police officer were misunderstanding each other. Race, however, is only brought up once during this, which to some people is a disservice to the whole story of Sandra Bland and her death. It felt like it was left out because it didn’t fit into the narrative that was put out in this book, mainly that misunderstandings are down to miscommunication issues almost all of the time.

This book is, however, I think worth your time and I did gain some good insight into human psychology and human behaviour towards strangers. This is my second book from Malcolm Gladwell and I have yet to be disappointed by his work so far. I will definitely continue reading and more specifically, listening to his books.

Talking to Strangers - Likewise Book Reviews

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