Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

TALKING TO STRANGERS by Malcolm Gladwell is his latest work and explores “What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know.”  As is his style, Gladwell uses multiple real-life examples to illustrate his points.  Here, he refers to the cases of Brock Turner (convicted Stanford rapist), Amanda Knox, Bernie Madoff, Adolf Hitler, and the perils of community policing which led to Sandra Bland’s death. Gladwell explores the psychology related to the “Stranger Problem” by describing the work of Tim Levine and his commentary on our tendency to “default to truth,” often misunderstanding or “giving the benefit of the doubt,” believing the stranger when we should tend to be more skeptical. While entertaining as always, it was sometimes difficult to reconcile Gladwell’s analysis with racism, sexism and other unconscious biases which may have as much or more impact on our interactions. In The Washington Post, Wray Herbert remarked upon Gladwell’s “impressive range of historical conundrums,” but also noted that he “dances around the topic of torture” and provides an “unconvincing and troubling” analysis regarding Sandra Bland. Gladwell has written numerous best-sellers (The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink) and TALKING TO STRANGERS garnered much attention. Carol Tavris, writing for the Wall Street Journal, described Gladwell as “an enjoyable raconteur, but a somewhat lazy researcher” so that for this particular book, it’s “often hard to find the chocolate in the trail mix.” TALKING TO STRANGERS did receive a starred review from Kirkus.

Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wood AND Embrace Your Weird by Day

GOOD HABITS, BAD HABITS by Professor of Psychology and Business at the University of Southern California, Wendy Wood is all about “The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.” Wood divides her work into three parts (How We Really Are, The Three Bases of Habit Formation, and Special Cases, Big Opportunities and the World Around Us). She writes in an accessible manner, opening with an anecdote about a cousin trying to lose weight, and then explains some of the obstacles to success, including the idea that “we act out of habit [approximately forty percent of the time] without having to make a decision to do so.” The second part of Wood’s text, which deals with context, repetition and reward, is really quite informative. For example, Wood discusses the decline in smoking in America, noting that knowledge of the dangers and willpower (desire to quit) were often not enough until regulations and environment (e.g., limited advertising, fewer vending machines and more non-smoking areas) became prevalent. However, I think I like best her short “useful story” at the book’s end which is titled “How to Stop Looking at your Phone So Often” – it provides a wonderful application of her ideas and was recently highlighted in The Los Angeles Times’ review of this book. Wood also includes extensive notes, a lengthy bibliography and an index, all of which may interest our Psych student researchers. GOOD HABITS, BAD HABITS received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was named one of “10 books to read in October” by The Washington Post.

EMBRACE YOUR WEIRD by professional actress Felicia Day was actually recommended recently by another member of the Library staff. In this “part guided journal, part workbook” Day encourages her readers to “Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity.”  Early on, she encourages readers to write “I am the greatest thing since Swiss cheese” over and over and to REALLY believe it.  She encourages her readers to let go of self-consciousness by keeping the process of working through the book private – and offers a quick exercise about adjectives and dancing to explain why. I think that Psych classes and advisories will find this book amusing and quirky, but also perceptive and helpful. There could be some really great prompts for journaling and introspection. Potentially, Creative Writers classes could also have fun and learn to “loosen-up” with this text. Day writes humorously and yet offers some serious suggestions to unlock our weird, creative voices, “combining the inventory we already have in our brains in new and interesting ways.” There is an entire chapter called Playtime! And another labeled Quests; as Day says, “What do you have to lose?”

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim is a well-written novel that is a mystery and much more. Two people die and several are injured due to a fire and explosion at the “Miracle Submarine,” a controversial treatment (extended exposure to high oxygen levels) for people with autism and other various medical issues. The author uses multiple narrators and aptly weaves the stories of the patients and their families with the history of the Korean immigrants (Pak Yoo, his wife, Young and daughter, Mary) who run the center. In addition, Kim introduces the courtroom setting where the mother (Elizabeth) of one of the children (Henry) is tried for intentionally setting the fire which killed her own son. 

There is certainly plenty of angst and guilt spread around: parents who experience a range of feelings towards their children, conflicts between spouses, questions of ethics for the lawyers, and actions by protesters who debate the medical efficacy of this treatment.  As the reader hurtles from one lie to another and flips back and forth between suspicion and empathy for possible perpetrators, Kim propels the story forward to its surprising conclusion. Miracle Creek was chosen as a LibraryReads selection for April and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal. An excellent choice for book groups.

LOST CONNECTIONS by Johann Hari

LOST CONNECTIONS by Johann Hari was just published this week and deals, as the subtitle notes, with “Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions.”  This was actually a very surprising and quite interesting book to read because the author builds an argument against more commonly accepted causes of depression such as serotonin levels and genetics.  Hari argues instead that depression and anxiety are caused by society and by our increasing disconnections from meaningful work, from each other, from nature, etc.  I found myself wanting to learn more, especially because Hari does not have a medical degree (which he acknowledges), but does speak with authority due to his own experience with depression. He supplements his personal observations with thousands of hours of interviews and numerous studies; these are cited in the wide-ranging notes, in part a reaction to past questions in the UK about his sources. Hari describes in detail, for example, the research regarding loneliness that University of Chicago professor John Cacioppo and others have conducted. Coincidentally, the UK Prime Minister last week appointed a Minister of Loneliness which is estimated to impact over nine million Brits. In 2010, AARP projected the corresponding American figure to be almost 43 million.

In his conclusion, Hari writes, “We need to stop trying to muffle or silence or pathologize that pain. Instead, we need to listen to it, and honor it. It is only … when we can see its true causes, can we begin to overcome it.” Calling LOST CONNECTIONS a “sure-to-be-controversial book,” Kirkus says, “Hari delivers a weighty, well-supported, persuasive argument against treating depression pharmaceutically.”  I can think of several groups who will be curious to read more about his claims: our Social Work Department, Health Services, various teachers, and, of course, students and their parents.