I have been a fan of Malcom Gladwell's work back to his revolutionary book Outliers. This book literally changed how I see the world. Gladwell's books are often found in the "Self-help" section of most book stores. I really think they belong on the "Thought Provoking" section, if one actually existed in book stores. Just for the record it should, and I would in charge of re-shelving a bunch of book.

Audible Description - Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the number one New York Times best-seller Outliers, reinvents the audiobook in this immersive production of Talking to Strangers, a powerful examination of our interactions with people we don’t know.

The book is made up 12 or so unrelated stories about actual historical events he uses this to make his points and takeaways throughout the book. My personal take away from the book was that we live in a visual world and deceptive people will go through great lengths to use visual tools to deceive us Trusting your other senses can save you for being mislead. But it turns out we do trust our other senses like our ears as much as we trust our eyes.

Another takeaway was, sometimes people act or do things because of their circumstances. An outside observers may pass judgement on a person or situation based only on what they can take in visually, trusting what we see over everything else. For example if you see an agitated personal you subconsciously make them villains without knowing the source of agitation.

The narrator was the author Malcolm Gladwell, and as I mentioned earlier he has a very successful podcast, it is no surprise he makes a very good narrator. I am a big fan when authors of non-fiction book narrate their audiobooks. Unfortunately this is not that common and I have yet to listen to a non-fiction audiobook narrated by the author that I didn't like.

Summary:

Did the book deliver on its promise – based on the publishers descriptions "reinvents the audiobook in this immersive production of Talking to Strangers, a powerful examination of our interactions with people we don’t know" the book did live up to its as advertised content

What was my personal takeaway – being a Gladwell book, I was expecting it to be a thought provoking listen and it defiantly was all of that. I now find myself being more critical of how I take in information, I find myself searching confirmation through vocal tones and body language. Also because you uses history to make his points , I also received some history lessons which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Did the narrator help the story – as mentioned earlier Gladwell did a great job with the narration he changed his tone at all the right places for make sure your take away from the book was everything he wanted you to get from the book. Could another voice actor delivered this book? Yes but I think Gladwell took it to another level.

Would I recommend this book – I would caution anybody who is looking for hard efficient knowledge from an audiobook, you may get frustrated with this one especially if you are not a fan of history. The audiobook weaves in clips from news stories and interviews, which can have a podcast feel at times, which I liked but might not be for everyone. This is a book that will leave with questions, in a good way, about you and the world you live in.