Talking to Strangers has been a very enjoyable read and not because it was a well-researched book or I learned anything of value from it. Once you set such expectations aside, a book can have redeeming qualities. In this case, Gladwell cites a variety of examples of people failing to understand strangers in high-stakes situations with world-changing consequences. Each one illustrates makes you wonder how that's possible - the people in question were well-qualified for the job, they had more than enough data points at their disposal and yet they were terribly wrong, time after time.
The way I want to use the content in this book is as vignettes from history and events of the modern world that all show a common theme. That is the data the reader can use to go read further if they are interested to learn about Lord Halifax and Neville Chamberlain for example. Then they could arrive at the own conclusions regarding the events and that may even help them understand what they could do in their own lives to avoid such gross misunderstanding of strangers and their motivations.
Readers who were expect to have a guiding light shone on them will be disappointed. It would also be unwise to proceed with the expectation that Gladwell's conclusions will prove satisfactory - I won't go into the likelihood to offend because that is a whole another can of worms. Luckily none of that describes me as a reader and also I did not buy the book - I almost never do buy and when I see it on display in the Target checkout line, its a extra big red flag not to buy. So given all that, I came out satisfied with the book.
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