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

　　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）
 
 

　　The highly anticipated new book from Malcolm Gladwell, No.1 international bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw and David and Goliath
 
　　The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The 　　false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger's motives?
 
　　Through a series of encounters and misunderstandings - from history, psychology and infamous legal cases - Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences.
 
　　No one challenges our shared assumptions like Malcolm Gladwell. Here he uses stories of deceit and fatal errors to cast doubt on our strategies for dealing with the unknown, inviting us to rethink our thinking in these troubled times.
 
Review
 
　　"The latest intellectually stimulating book from the acclaimed author. Every few years, journalist Gladwell assembles serious scientific research on oddball yet relevant subjects and then writes a bestseller. Readers expecting another everything-you-think-you-know-is-wrong page-turner will not be disappointed...Another Gladwell tour de force."―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 
　　"Chock-full of gripping anecdotes from the recent and forgotten past. He uses these riveting stories to offer up bite-size observations about how we engage with strangers. The stranger is not easy; she is never as transparent as we believe. Gladwell's case studies are thrilling."―Booklist
 
　　"A thoughtful treatise...Gladwell writes in his signature colorful, fluid, and accessible prose...Both fascinating and topical."―Publishers Weekly
 

Author
 
　　Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five international bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. He is the host of the podcast Revisionist History and is a staff writer atThe New Yorker. He was named one of the 100 most influential people byTime magazine and one of the Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers. Previously, he was a reporter with the Washington Post, where he covered business and science, and then served as the newspaper's New York City bureau chief. He graduated from the University of Toronto, Trinity College, with a degree in history. Gladwell was born in England and grew up in rural Ontario. He lives in New York.