In Talking to Strangers, I believe all Malcolm really wants to tell us, is everything our parents use to tell us: 1. Don’t believe everything you read in the papers (or in magazines, or the internet.) 2. Trust only family, not strangers; but be careful everywhere. 3. Don’t believe anything anyone tells you until you check it out first. (This could’ve meant, ask Mom and/or Dad, go to the library, ask someone we know and is smart.)
Most people have their default setting at TRUST; we want to believe you; we really want you to tell us the truth, and we really hope that’s what you’re doing. We have high hopes! And if you grew up in America you just can’t help being positive and optimistic. Well, most people, not all.
Growing up in New Jersey, in a second-generation, Italian American family; our default setting was SKEPTICAL; meaning you have to prove yourself trustworthy first. My parents would try to figure out if someone was lying rather than discuss the topic. That’s what their immigrant parents taught them. (Living in NJ just added to sarcasm.) I taught my kids the same thing; never believe someone at face value, consider your source first. Then try to figure out what they’re asking or telling you, based on what you already know. THINK!
Obviously, Malcolm delves deeper into why we trust strangers, and why we initially believe them. What cues are we missing, what didn’t we hear, what in their tone didn’t I pick up on?! As is his way, Malcolm brings several nationally known examples and valuable research to explain why and how this happens, frequently.
The case that stuck with me the most is the Sandra Bland case in Texas, from 2015. The case where the young officer stopped her for a minor traffic error, but because she acted nervous, he thought she was hiding something and misread as suspicious. He bullied her every action, ending up pulling her out of the car, to ground in cuffs. She died three days later, in jail, by suicide. Malcolm describes the entire encounter, case, and final trial in the book. (In the audio, which is excellent, Malcolm plays all original recordings; such as this encounter.) This story alone is worth reading this book! My opinion.
Many examples you will recognize are discussed, theories are raised and labeled. No need for me to list them here; better to encounter them with the case they match, and Malcolm’s words to describe them.
Very interesting book wanders some here and there, but solid. Superb audio.

Thank you Netgalley, Little, Brown and Co. and Malcolm Gladwell

I love Malcolm Gladwell and Talking to Strangers did not let me down. It hooks you in by talking about some high profile cases like the Sandra Bland and Jerry Sandusky incidents, but makes you think about them in new ways, as Gladwell does best. He covers topics from suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge to Hitler, but in totally unique ways. I loved this book, and has been re-thinking how I interact with the strangers around me and if I default to trust or not.

I usually really like Malcolm Gladwell. This book seemed more scattershot. I didn't find the usual cohesion. He seems to have to conflicting views. One that default to truth gets us in trouble and the other that we are too gullible (ie default to truth too often). I guess the message I took away was consider you might be mistaken in all cases. Mr Gladwell is a good storyteller, but stories can prove any point if you use the right ones. I was surprised that this covered much of the territory that I read about in Preet Bharara's book, Doing Justice.

In his new book, Talking to Strangers, Malcolm Gladwell takes a unique approach to understand the dynamics when a person encounters a stranger. In a manner that has become synonymous with Malcolm Gladwell, he makes his point through stories, some you may be familiar with, some may be unknown to you. But first, he illustrates a few key points about human nature. Like the fact that humans tend to believe in truth and transparency. We want to believe that somebody is genuinely kind when they greet us like an old friend. We want to believe that if a person acts guilty, they are guilty. We want to believe that a reputable doctor is going to treat our children like a reputable doctor would treat a patient. But as the author tells the story of Hitler meeting Neville Chamberlain we know that Hitler is not an honorable man, but a monster. We know that Amanda Knox was innocent of murder, no matter how guilty she acted. We know that Dr. Nassar molested hundreds of young women, some with their parents in the room. Why did those parents ignore what was happening before their very eyes? Because they believed the truth that Dr. Nassar was a reputable doctor who would never molest children.

The story that starts and punctuates the book is that of Sandra Bland. Sandra Bland, by all accounts, was an upstanding citizen. She was on her way to start a new job at a Texas university when pulled over for a minor infraction. That traffic stop escalated in a way that it never should have and three days later she was dead by suicide in her jail cell. The author goes deeper than just a traffic stop, though. And explores the history of traffic stops in the United States and a shift in the approach to traffic stops that started in Kansas City during the 90's. Why did a simple traffic stop end up with a dead woman? Because we struggle with knowing how to talk to strangers.

Bottom Line - Malcolm Gladwell is a genius. Every book he writes starts conversations in our country that need to happen. Talking to Strangers is no different. It is our differences that make this country so great, but we need to know how to talk to each other. That is what is lacking and causing the divisiveness that is taking over our how country. How do we open dialogue that is conducive to growth and progress with those who are different from us? Unfortunately, that HOW is not discussed in Talking to Strangers, but the WHY is there and that is a necessary first step.

Details:
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
On Instagram
Pages: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
Publication Date: 9/10/2019
Buy it Here!
Thank you to NetGalley for the book in exchange for a review.

"We think we can easily see into the hearts of others based on the flimsiest of clues. We jump at the chance to judge strangers. We would never do that to ourselves, of course. We are nuanced and complex and enigmatic. But the stranger is easy. If I can convince you of one thing in this book, let it be this: Strangers are not easy."

I have so many thoughts about this book. I've been a Gladwell fan since his first book and have read every single book he's written. I like his anecdotal style of writing. I like that he likes to peak your curiosity and engages the reader quite easily and that he can take a complicated subject and make it simple enough for an ordinary person like me to digest.

Alas, in this case, this is exactly what annoyed me.

First of all, this book should come with many trigger warnings. It tackles difficult and complicated subjects like racism, police shootings, rape, child molestation, and Hitler. Any one of these topics, in my opinion, is too nuanced and textured, and complicated for a Gladwell-like book, and when all are in there, it's enough for me to cringe and want to put the book down.

And so, maybe it makes no sense that I would rate this book as four stars. But alas, Gladwell's book also does a lot of what he's setting out to do: show you a big hole in our society and a glaring mistake in the way we read and communicate with other people. The way we assume things about them. How assuming only the best causes so much harm in some cases, and always assuming the worst is also no way to live. People are complicated and there always more than one thing going on. And that we often don't know all the factors that culminate in a particular situation.

As always his story telling is great, his topic is fascinating, and he expands my thinking and makes me more curious about life. Any book that impacts my thinking this much, is a worthwhile book. I just wish his examples had been different. He makes wide generalizations so that his stories can fit under the "Talking to Strangers" category and there are many examples in the book where I don't agree with him. But the overall point he's making, I do agree with that. As with all of his books, it made me look at the world slightly differently. It made me ask more questions and notice more of my assumptions. And that is always a good thing.

Malcolm Gladwell is a gifted writer who engages our minds and emotions in his works of non-fiction. In "Talking to Strangers,” he tells us true stories that, at first, seem to be unrelated. A police stop ends in tragedy; Neville Chamberlain and other political figures famously misconstrued Hitler's bellicose intentions; experienced judges grant bail to defendants who, they realize too late, should have remained in jail; the sociopath, Bernie Madoff, conducted a fraudulent investment scheme for years, deceiving many individuals who thought that he was a genius at making money; Amanda Knox served prison time for a murder that she did not commit.

Studies show that most of us who encounter apparently benevolent individuals are predisposed to believe that they are not putting on an act. Conversely, when we meet a man or woman who behaves weirdly or inappropriately, we are likely to jump to negative conclusions about him or her, even when there is little hard evidence to support our assumptions. The author suggests that many of us have an inflated opinion of our ability to size up people. Research suggests that we are not as objective as we would like to believe, and are therefore prone to misinterpret comments, intonations, facial expressions, and gestures. Moreover, we do not always realize that people whose backgrounds differ from ours may communicate in unfamiliar ways.

Gladwell asks: How did double-agents who telegraphed their guilt get away with their treasonous behavior for so long? Why didn't everyone recognize Madoff for what he is—a ruthless swindler? Which of Amanda Knox's personality traits, remarks, and deeds convinced Italian authorities that she killed her roommate? These compelling examples raise intriguing questions about why we sometimes reach erroneous conclusions when we assess the truthfulness of our fellow human beings. it should be noted that a few chapters in this book—such as the essays on suicide, young adults who drink so heavily that they black out, and the efforts of police to cut down on crime—are thought-provoking but oversimplified and not particularly relevant to Gladwell's central premise. Still, this work of non-fiction is an entertaining and enlightening wake-up call. We should be cautious when we decide who our friends are as opposed to who is likely to stab us in the back. Too often we are dead wrong.

Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, "Talking to Strangers" is a book about reading people and trust. It is a book about gauging someone you don't know and how to discern if they are telling the truth. Gladwell weaves the stories of some of the top new stories of the past decade and before to explain his concepts. He starts with Sandra Bland, an African-American who was pulled over by a police officer for not signaling when changing lanes. She then resisted the officer, reacting with indignation for getting pulled over, who then forcibly arrests her. Three days later she is found dead as she hung herself in jail.

Other news stories include: the case of Amanda Knox, Jerry Sandusky, Bernie Madoff, even Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. These stories are about reading people and the human brain's "default to truth" mode that we assume everyone is telling us the truth until the evidence otherwise turns the tide to mistrust.

Another concept covered is when someone's behavior is "mismatched" to the circumstance. These incongruent personality anomalies make our brain doubt what we hear people our eyes don't "see" it. These actually lead to us placing blame on innocent people.

The final concept discussed in his book was "coupling." That certain activities are tied inherently to locations, methods, etc. that would be avoided if the thing it is tied to is curtailed.

This book was a very fascinating read on how we see and perceive the world around us. It gives new insights about what we may or may not be perceiving in others and that we need to look more closely in some cases before declaring judgment on someone without all of the information, especially a complete stranger.

I received this as an eBook from Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of the title. I did not receive any compensation from either company. The opinions expressed herein are completely my own.

I was trying to work through my thoughts on this book when Goodreads did an interview with Malcolm Gladwell and this one thing he said just made everything clear for me:

“I've never been a writer who's looked to persuade his readers; I'm more interested in capturing their interest and curiosity.”


Because, truthfully, I don't know that Gladwell did fully convince me of his way of thinking with this book. I don't know that I actually agree that he can draw a link between the police officer “misunderstanding” Sandra Bland and Neville Chamberlain “misunderstanding” Hitler and make that work. And I don't know that I agree - actually, no, I'm pretty sure I don't - about the way he views the Stanford rape case as a "misunderstanding".*

But, still, I couldn't look away from this book. It's the first book I've read by Gladwell and I can see now why he has become something of a pop-nonfiction writer because he definitely knows how to capture your attention. It's got some psychology, a bit of anthropology, a touch of politics, a dash of espionage... what's not to like?

I found it absolutely fascinating and horrifying when he shows how a "blind" machine can more correctly judge the character and bail risk of criminals than human judges and trained law enforcement. I really enjoyed learning about the way we characterize and judge facial expressions and how this is both misleading AND differs across cultures, so not only do we often incorrectly judge those in our own society and culture, but we've got no chance when faced with someone from a different country.

You ever been to a foreign country and thought people were looking at you weird? Turns out their face might just be in "neutral" or they're even being friendly!

He backs things up with respectable studies and acknowledges limitations when appropriate, which I liked. I do thing he umbrellas a lot of very different examples under the "Talking to Strangers" label, and not all of them seem realistically linked to me. But they are interesting, nevertheless.

In the end, though, he brings all this information, all these studies and examples together to leave us with an idea that is nothing new, but that I think we are all too quick to forget: people are more complex than they first appear. Don’t judge a book by its cover, if you will. Some people are assholes; others are just socially-challenged (me!). Some people are guilty; others just get that shifty look when walking through the metal detectors at the airport (also me!).

I can't deny that I now want to read all his other books.

*In Gladwell's defense, he spoke with a number of sensitivity readers for this chapter and he discusses it in far more depth than I've given the impression of. He goes out of his way to stress that he isn't making excuses for the culprit, but is mostly critical of blackout drinking culture and how this makes an understanding of consent impossible.

I received a complimentary copy of the book through Netgalley.

This book was an interesting and a good read. The book explores the following question: why is it difficult to understand strangers? Why do smart people get easily deceived by others? If you like Malcom Gladwell's previous books (e.g., Blink or Outliers), you will like this book. The author highlights three reasons for our difficulty in understanding strangers: people generally assume others are honest/truthful, they expect others to behave in a particular way, and ignore that the behavior of the person is specific to a context and environment. The author illustrates this with various anecdotes: Sandra Bland case, spies, Amanda Knox, Sylvia Plath, sexual assaults in fraternities, and various policies on policing. Viewpoint of the author on the anecdotes were interesting. At times, the viewpoints and experiments highlighted in the book appear tailored to the author's agenda. I think "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman provides the same observations (default to truth and transparency) in much more persuasive manner.

The failure to communicate accurately with one another is the subject of Gladwell’s latest compendium of anecdotes and scientific studies that can explain them. Looking at incidents ranging from confrontations between black Americans and police to the inability of supposedly expert authorities to evaluate criminal behavior and lies, Gladwell establishes the sorry fact that human begins are more prone to misunderstand each other than the reverse.

Gladwell documents several tendencies in assessing strangers that have been discovered by research: our default assumption is that a person - even a stranger - is telling the truth if his or her demeanor seems persuasive. If there is such a “match” we tend to give people the benefit of the doubt; we prefer to think we are not subject to being deceived, and respond accordingly. On the other hand, if a person is a stranger, with whom we do not share a culture and history, and whose language, behavior, and appearance are different than our own, we easily default to distrust.

Sound contradictory? Once again, as in previous books, Gladwell takes a Procrustean approach to data and conclusions. (In Greek mythology, Procrustes either cut up or stretched out his guests to fit his iron bed. Therefore a “procrustean bed” refers to a theory for which data is manipulated in order to fit its premises.)

Even his conclusion showed him wanting to have it both ways. Gladwell emphasizes that society cannot function without a certain level of trust. But we also need to abandon trust when it is appropriate!

Evaluation: This book is darker than Gladwell’s previous works. In addition, in my view, he seemed a little too eager to include sordid details of sexual assaults that weren’t essential to proving his points. Sometimes he drifts off topic, which can be confusing.

The case studies supplied by Gladwell support his thesis, but we did not hear about any counterfactual cases that could refute the theories he was promulgating.

Finally, it seems as if this book could have been condensed into a long magazine article.

This book is about how we misunderstand people's actions and tones and give people the benefit of the doubt and assume the people we're talking to are being honest.

It starts with the story of Sandra Bland. She was a Black woman who had just moved from Chicago to Houston. She was stopped by a police office in rural Texas for failing to signal when moving into the right hand lane. Things escalated and she was arrested and put in jail. A couple days later she committed suicide in her cell. What happened? How did it go from a routine traffic violation to suicide? Gladwell analyzes the behavior of both and give us his opinion.

Gladwell also analyzes what happened in other true situations including Hitler's convincing behavior with an English prime minister before World War II, a Cuba spy in Czechoslavia who defected to the U.S., Bernie Madoff's investment scam, pedophile Jerry Sandusky, reading the expressions of the actors of Friends, terrorist KSM, if alcohol an excuse for rape, the arrest of Amanda Knox for the murder of Meredith Kercher, the death of Sylvia Plath and more.

It was an interesting read as it gave background information I didn't know but also discussed stories I didn't know about.

Talking to Strangers was such a fascinating look at how we read strangers is so often completely wrong. Gladwell uses high profile cases to talk about how the issues at hand are often a matter of misreading others. I'll be processing the ideas in Talking to Strangers for a long time.

As usual, Malcolm Gladwell forces me to contemplate ideas I've never considered before, turning my thought process on ideas upside down. I am a huge fan of his Revisionist History podcast, and each chapter in Talking to Strangers reads like an episode of the podcast.

Some of the topics can be uncomfortable, especially those about sexual assault and police brutality, but as you follow through his process, you begin to see events in a different way, understanding that the root cause may not be what we are wont to believe it is. Malcolm's main point throughout this book is that we are often horrible at understanding how to interact with strangers. This can lead to dire consequences, and in order to create better outcomes, we must reconsider how to approach situations with strangers. Anyone who enjoys a thought-provoking read will enjoy this book.

"Talking to Strangers" by Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most important books of the year. In a time where mass communication, often leads to conflict, it is essential to understand why we often misinterpret another’s behaviour, their words and intentions leading us to judge their character and alter our own actions to respond unjustly.
Malcolm Gladwell is always effective in illustrating his point. In this book he vividly uses five infamous examples to do so: a case of espionage during the cold war, Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, the conviction of Amanda Knox and the Suicide of Sylvia Path. He also bookends his thesis discussing how heartbreakingly needless the unjust conviction of Sandra Bland.
I would want my high school students to read this book. It easily supports curriculums in Religious Studies, Ethics, Social Studies and Social Sciences and would inspire in-depth discussion in the classroom.

Another deeply layered book by Gladwell..Piecing together events from history he shows us how to talk, listen to, and understand people that we have nothing in common with.

This reminds me why I minored in Psychology. Studying people is just so fascinating! I've read Outliers, and was equally as interested in that. Here Gladwell explains a lot of interesting social experiments done in the journey to better understand why our interactions with strangers are the way they are. He also sorts through some controversial real-life scenarios in a better way than the media feeds them to you in order to bring to life the implications of our perceptions.

The thing I keep coming back to even after reading it, is the Default-to-Truth facet. That basically we all have a threshold of doubts we accept/explain away- defaulting to truth. Only once we are pushed over our threshold of red flags do we call foul. I've realized how often that comes in to play in our day to day lives. But as Gladwell points out- we kind of have to live that way in order for society not to be a mess of suspicion and paranoia. We can't always assume the worst about people, but we do need SOME people to question. It's a precarious balance.

The only criticism I have for the book would be that sometimes the flow of the book- jumping from study to study- was at times hard to follow. A few times I couldn't remember what his point was and the connection to the main theme of the book wasn't super obvious. It didn't really matter to me because I would have found the studies interesting either way, but it did detract from being able to easily follow his train of thought. Additionally, the end was very abrupt. From the beginning I wasn't sure where he was going to end up, and I'm still not sure where exactly he landed. Or exactly what I'm supposed to do with this information. I wish he would have had more of an 'in summation' chapter at the end to review and apply. We are left hanging a bit.

I will also say that while the science and sociology behind all of this is super interesting and telling and makes a lot of sense, I do believe it has its limits. There are just too many variables in our interactions with people to ever really boil it down to a few universal standards. I think he presents really good guidelines and things to keep in mind and be aware of, but it is by no means gospel. And when he tries to explain any of it evolutionary speaking I have to roll my eyes a bit. (Personally I think it's more of a stretch for evolutionists to explain things like emotions and stranger interactions, etc than Creationists, but whatever.)

I'm smart, but I'm not smart enough to evaluate or challenge the validity of the studies. I can't speak to the academic nature of this book. But I can tell you that I found it interesting and valuable and worth reading.

Disclaimer: do not read the digital version. Get yourself an actual book. There are lots of footnotes that don't show up until the last page of each chapter on the digital version which is kind of annoying. It's also one of those books that you find yourself flipping back to previous sections or pages to make connections and that's hard to do without physical pages.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of Talking to Strangers.

I was stoked when I saw my request was approved. I'm a Malcolm Gladwell fan and I love his writing.

In Talking to Strangers, Mr. Gladwell examines some of the most controversial scandals in American history, from Fidel Castro, to the horrific crimes perpetrated by pedophiles Sandusky and doctor/pervert Nassar, to the tragedy of Sandra Bland, from the context that people are ill informed when it comes to speaking to strangers.

He highlights the preconceptions and prejudices every individual possesses and how we use use such notions to inform and dictate the way we speak, handle and deal with strangers in everyday interactions.

These include:

1. The default to truth problem - Most people will assume people are telling the truth (which is a good thing) but bad when we maintain the assumption when red flags are waving in the air like the wacky, waving, inflatable tube man.

2. The mismatch problem - We can't tell when people are lying, especially if their appearance does not match what we assume a liar is supposed to look like.

3. The transparency problem - How we feel on the inside rarely matches how we feel on the outside. You can't predict behavior and personality just from appearance alone.

4. The coupling phenomenon - Crime and suicide are tied to time and place so when you are speaking to an individual in a tense situation, consider where and how you are speaking to this person because these two factors influence how you treat and regard this person.

This was an incredible and fascinating read and has opened my mind when speaking not only to strangers, but to friends, family, and colleagues.

I am more self aware of how I regard a person, especially someone I have just met, and will incorporate what I have read in Talking to Strangers into my own life.

I do wish Mr. Gladwell had provided more insight and feedback on how to rectify such issues.

How can I not make the mistakes some of the people he profiled did?

How can I do better?

Otherwise, Talking to Strangers makes you think, react and want to do better, the hallmark of any good book.

A well written book about how when we go into conversations with strangers things can go terribly wrong based on our assumptions on how they should act. Reading a Gladwell book always leaves you feeling a little smarter and leaves you wondering how you never thought of that. A quick read that gets the job done and includes stories we all know such as Amanda Knox, Sandusky, Bernie Madoff etc and tackles them in his signature style. Pick up this book and you will be happy you gave it your time.
Thank you Netgalley, Little, Brown and Company and Gladwell for the ARC in exchange for my opinion.

Malcolm Gladwell takes his characteristic forensic voice and speaks on a topic that is incredibly timely and powerful in this book. What churns in the minds of others in violent and inhumane moments forms that basis for this conversation.

Gladwell’s use of analysis and narrative examples prods the heart of this issue. Highly recommended — and may the conversation on this topic continue and cause positive solutions.

Malcolm Gladwell’s latest foray into human folly is its seemingly innate trust in strangers. We assume strangers are transparent, and can take what they do and say at face value. Sometimes we are wrong, but assuming everyone is evil is far worse. Talking To Strangers focuses (mostly) on a number of very high profile criminal cases we are all likely to be familiar with. They include the Amanda Knox case, the Jerry Sandusky case, the Brock Turner case, the Sandra Bland case, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and the Bernie Madoff case.

Gladwell looks at them differently. He looks at them not from simple guilt or innocence, but from the misread signals that have surrounded them. The result can be a ruined life, prison or even death, unearned. On the other side (the investigator side), they can result in self-delusion, missed opportunities and complete wastes of time achieving nothing. It’s an imperfection he exploits repeatedly throughout the book.

It all hinges on the notion of transparency, what people assume about strangers just by looking at them. Judges make decision about bail, college students make decisions about having sex, investigators make assumptions about guilt – all just by looking and talking to strangers. Gladwell shows we do pretty poorly, especially compared to machines given raw data. Systems have a far better record of assigning or withholding bail, for example. Judges, even after decades of experience, fool themselves daily.

There is a side trip into coupling, where people fixate on something. In his chapter on the suicide of Sylvia Plath, he examines the role of town gas, saturated with carbon monoxide, which was the favorite method of suicide until it was phased out in favor of natural gas. As it disappeared, the suicide rate plunged. If people didn’t have their town gas, they didn’t kill themselves. They did not, as expected, look for alternatives. It was town gas, or nothing. Similarly, the Golden Gate Bridge is a favorite suicide tool, even though faster and easier methods are readily available.

Gladwell discovers that different cultures appreciate facial expressions differently. There are no real universals. He finds that people default to trusting others unless they know them already. Otherwise we would all be like television Vikings, constantly killing each other for lack of trust.

Talking To Strangers feels incomplete and unsatisfying. It’s no news to anyone that first impressions might not prove correct. It’s why it takes five to ten years for a marriage to break up, or months for a teenage relationship. How people we thought we knew could turn out to be evil on some level. We feel betrayed (but we betrayed ourselves). Suspension of disbelief (a term Gladwell does use at any point in the book) means we ignore the defects and faults we are presented with, and assume the best for this stranger. Later, those same faults become intolerable. But we know this.

Oddly, he does not examine American gun culture as substitute for this normal transparency and trust.

He discovers that alcohol doesn’t reveal, it transforms. There are good drunks and bad drunks, good trips and bad trips. The real you is not revealed by alcohol; you become a stranger to yourself. We drink so much more per session today that blackouts have become common and even measurable and predictable. Drink too much and your brain shuts down so you remember nothing. You leave yourself in the hands of a complete stranger – yourself. This is also not news.

Still and as usual, Gladwell is easy to read. He packs his pages with these fascinating sidelights, and confirms much of what we have always suspected. Too trusting is being gullible. Non-trusting means a monster.

The most clear and chilling example he gives was the Ana Montes case, in which a Cuban intelligence mole worked her way up through the US security establishment with such great accomplishments and accolades that no one suspected her, despite the gigantic clues and traceable events. Leaks followed her everywhere. It was a case of suspension of disbelief as clear and dramatic as a teenager watching a terrible sci-fi flick. The CIA counterintelligence officer in charge, who finally outed her and stopped the hemorrhaging, kicks himself for not putting 2+2 together years earlier.

The best quote comes in the Khalid Sheik Mohammed case. Years of torture, both physical and psychological led Mohammed to finally confess. He confessed to pretty much everything in the world. The investigators began to think he was puffing himself up for posterity, knowing under no circumstances would he ever be set free. It made them (as so many have before them) rethink torture: “Trying to get information out of someone you are sleep-depriving is sort of like trying to get a better signal out of a radio that you are smashing with a sledgehammer.…It makes no sense to me at all.” But we carry on, regardless.

Gladwell has great command of his thoughts. He handles his subject with comfort and ease. He will take you down strange paths and bring you back when he’s ready. And not before. So while it might be incomplete, it is engaging and entertaining.

In the end, Gladwell has so immersed himself in the Sandra Bland case and the psychology and tactics at every level, that he can explain it way beyond simply a cop gone bad. He says according to the known science he has explained, the police should not have been making stops on that stretch of road, and not in broad daylight. That the directions of management to make as many stops as possible was wrong, as was the police manual on obtaining and maintaining control over suspects. Mostly, from the context of this book, the officer took all the clues he found – an out of state license, an aggravated driver, fast food wrappers on the floor, no other keys on the keychain, failure to put out a cigarette on command – as nefarious instead of ordinary. He was trained to do the opposite of what we all do innately: assume truth and transparency in a stranger. That drivers should not be suspects; they are simply strangers. While that might let the occasional bad guy get away, the pain for treating everybody as a suspect is the kind of thing that can stop human society in its tracks. Our fundamental baseline must lean toward assuming transparency and trust. It is a necessary illusion.

David Wineberg