Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

8 out of 10

In classic Gladwellian fashion, Talking to Strangers is full of captivating and highly emotional anecdotes intertwined with psychological and statistical research.  The main point is that almost everyone is prone to trust people who appear transparent or to assume that sketchy looking individuals are guilty, yet there are surely times in which mismatched personalities and coupled contextual anomalies lead us astray.  Though, as noted, a system in which a majority of people are optimistic is undoubtedly superior to the alternative.

My sole criticism is that the author lacks respect for uncertainty.  He is a world-class storyteller who could easily pull the wool over anyone's eyes--and since he is a stranger, some people will have difficulty interpreting his motives.