Malcolm Gladwell: Talking to Strangers

He was named one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine, and one of the Foreign Policy’s Top Global Thinkers and in late 2019 he joined us at the Southbank Centre to present the fifth of those books.

Talking to Strangers, sees the author draw on cultural cues and prominent examples from contemporary news and media, to explore the assumptions and mistakes we make when dealing with people we don’t know. To discuss the book Gladwell joined broadcaster and former barrister Afua Hirsch on stage in a London exclusive event at our Queen Elizabeth Hall.

In this podcast of Gladwell and Hirsch’s fascinating and entertaining talk the author examines the misinterpretations and misunderstandings at the heart of the tragic case of Sandra Bland. He also asks, why are human beings so bad at detecting lies? And discusses taking risks in his writing, particularly when attempting to analyse interactions between strangers that led to sexual assaults.

But there is also a lighter side to this recording, as Hirsch and Gladwell discuss identity and biracial upbringing, how most rich people are really terrible at being rich, why no-one wants to fight a naked pensioner, and suggest that if we are to have meaningful televised political debates, they should not be between politicians, but between their former spouses.

‘My father was an introverted, reserved, dog-loving, gardening, long-walks-in-the-rain person, who only was moved to tears when reading Dickens aloud to his children. How could I not be English with such a father?’

Malcolm Gladwell on identity