Talking to Strangers

Although all the Malcolm Gladwell books I've read previously have enriched me in some way, I suspect Talking to Strangers (2019) will linger with me longest. Which book by this influential contemporary essayist has had a similar impact on you?

Gladwell uses the Sandra Bland tragedy to bookend his persuasive argument that the way we human beings draw conclusions about people we don't know is deeply flawed. His scrupulous deconstruction of the Jerry Sandusky scandal helped me see how hastily I condemned some of the collateral players in that notorious case. A similar aha arrived when Gladwell assisted me to see shades of gray in the infamous Stanford rape case involving Brock Turner and "Emily Doe", who later identified herself as Chanel Miller in her memoir entitled Know My Name.

Reflections From The Bell Curve: Remember Her Name

I'm still more inclined to sympathize with Miller's plight than I am with Turner's damaged reputation. But thanks to Gladwell, the Sandusky & Miller cases, Neville Chamberlain's pacifying of Hitler, and officer Brian Encina's tragic misreading of Sandra Bland's defiance are all filed now in a more nuanced portion of my brain. 

Upon finishing, I frequently ask myself how I benefitted - as a reader, as an aspiring writer, or as a thinker - by spending time with a book. Talking to Strangers spoke to me across all three of those dimensions. What recently finished book landed that way with you?