Description

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

‘Compelling, haunting, tragic stories . . . resonate long after you put the book down’ James McConnachie, Sunday Times Book of the Year

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?

Using stories of deceit and fatal errors to cast doubt on our strategies for dealing with the unknown, 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.

Publisher Review

Gladwell's new book looks set to cause another stir with its exploration of why ordinary human encounters sometimes end in catastrophes. * Radio Times * Malcolm Gladwell made his name bringing intellectual sparkle to everyday subjects, and his new book - about how strangers talk to each other - is no exception. -- Sean O'Hagan * Observer * Taut, provocative, smart . . . Gladwell's cool, playful intelligence has made him one of our leading public thinkers * Ian Leslie * Fascinating... you should read the book. Not only will it change the way you see and approach strangers, the precision with which he analyses the incident is one of the most powerful and damning indictments you'll read of race relations in American society. -- Sathnam Sanghera * The Times Magazine * A wonderful provocation which Gladwell delivers like no other, an awakening to just one of the fascinations that lie in ordinary human experience . . . as ever, Gladwell's genius is in the telling. * Spectator * Superb writing. Masterful... bears all the marks that have made Gladwell one of the most successful non-fiction authors of his generation. -- Pilita Clark * Financial Times * A dazzling book . . . Gladwell is a rock star of nonfiction . . . Stories are well selected and brilliantly told, ideas are slowly revealed until the reader arrives at a conclusion they didn't expect. Gladwell is advancing ideas and, sure, they are all open to challenge . . . but they are stimulating and convincing - and you won't regret a minute you spend mastering them * The Times * I love this book . . . reading it will actually change not just how you see strangers, but how you look at yourself, the news - the world. Reading this book changed me. * Oprah Winfrey *