Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know

　　與陌生人相處，有什麼不可少的關鍵絕竅？

　　我們早已遠離那樣的生活方式──終其一生寓居在一個城鎮，見過的人都是左鄰右舍，彼此的生命如此熟悉，即便不是家人朋友，也都算作是：「認識的人」──今天，我們生活在繁忙嘈雜的大都會，通勤、聚會、網路交友，那些我們一無所知的「陌生人」，才是填補日常的多數。作為背景，時而則作為我們相遇，產生互動的對象。可是，面對不認識的對方，你對理解他有多少把握？

　　不見得所有人都覺得與陌生人相處很輕鬆容易，但我們很少會自認是容易受騙的人，也深相信即便是全然不識的對象，他的表情、肢體、眼神，必然有著我們能夠解讀的蛛絲馬跡，讓我們從觀察中得出對這個人情緒與性格的推論。

　　可是，從不勝其數的案例顯示，理解陌生人，才沒有那麼簡單！而說到面對陌生人，我們其實不擅長得一塌糊塗！我們經常誤解對方的意思，建立錯誤的詮釋，有時更甚至造成了悲劇性的結果。讓原先例行性的警察臨檢，最終演變成衝突與拘捕、以辨識謊言與識人為專業的情報機構，在多年後卻發現自己早已被間諜滲透，也使我們錯失人們輕生的線索，又或作出多年之後才被平反的錯誤審判…為什麼我們會錯的這麼離譜呢？是在哪個環節讓打交道出了差錯？

　　一再以嶄新視角讓人們驚奇地重新認識週遭世界的隱藏規則。葛拉威爾這次再展功力，透過一連串精采而與最新研究發現完美結合的歷史、心理學、法律案例故事，引領我們走上一趟人性的冒險！挑戰那些奉為人際相處原則的信條，使機會與危機成為一線之隔，揭露面對陌生人的時刻，我們內心不自覺採取的各種關鍵策略，在這個與「陌生人」打交道如此頻繁的時代，重新認識自己，也因此能更精準地理解他人與行動！（文/博客來編譯）

　　A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Pres

　　Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers -- and why they often go wrong.

　　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 of Talking 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.

Author
 
　　Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers--The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is also the co-founder of Pushkin Industries, an audio content company that produces the podcasts Revisionist History, which reconsiders things both overlooked and misunderstood, and Broken Record, where he, Rick Rubin, and Bruce Headlam interview musicians across a wide range of genres. Gladwell has been included in the TIME 100 Most Influential People list and touted as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers.