Talking to Strangers

Why I'd hand it to you

Malcolm Gladwell explores why we are so bad at reading people we don't know, through stories about spies, con artists, police encounters and more. He argues that we default to trusting people and misread how behavior matches feelings. The book opens and closes with the case of Sandra Bland, who died in jail in Texas after a traffic stop. It is thought-provoking and easy to read. The caution: like many of his books, it builds tidy theories from selected stories, and critics say the research is thinner than his conclusions. Some will find his handling of sensitive cases uneven. It does start good conversations.

— Matt Jordan