The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World
- ISBN-10
- 1984855786
- ISBN-13
- 9781984855787
- Category
- Social Science
- Pages
- 384
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2021-07-13
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- Joe Keohane
Description
A “meticulously researched and buoyantly written” (Esquire) look at what happens when we talk to strangers, and why it affects everything from our own health and well-being to the rise and fall of nations in the tradition of Susan Cain’s Quiet and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens “This lively, searching work makes the case that welcoming ‘others’ isn’t just the bedrock of civilization, it’s the surest path to the best of what life has to offer.”—Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Homeland Elegies In our cities, we stand in silence at the pharmacy and in check-out lines at the grocery store, distracted by our phones, barely acknowledging one another, even as rates of loneliness skyrocket. Online, we retreat into ideological silos reinforced by algorithms designed to serve us only familiar ideas and like-minded users. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by a fear of people we’ve never met. But what if strangers—so often blamed for our most pressing political, social, and personal problems—are actually the solution? In The Power of Strangers, Joe Keohane sets out on a journey to discover what happens when we bridge the distance between us and people we don’t know. He learns that while we’re wired to sometimes fear, distrust, and even hate strangers, people and societies that have learned to connect with strangers benefit immensely. Digging into a growing body of cutting-edge research on the surprising social and psychological benefits that come from talking to strangers, Keohane finds that even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness, and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. And all the while, Keohane gathers practical tips from experts on how to talk to strangers, and tries them out himself in the wild, to awkward, entertaining, and frequently poignant effect. Warm, witty, erudite, and profound, equal parts sweeping history and self-help journey, this deeply researched book will inspire readers to see everything—from major geopolitical shifts to trips to the corner store—in an entirely new light, showing them that talking to strangers isn’t just a way to live; it’s a way to survive.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2021-07-13
- 353 pages
- Paperback
- Random House
-
- 2022-07-05
- 369 pages
- Paperback
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
-
- 2021-07-01
- 361 pages
- Paperback
- Penguin UK
Similar books
-
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know
By Malcolm GladwellHe revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—throwing our understanding of these and ...
-
Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter. . . But Really Do
By Karen L. Fingerman, Melinda Blau... Famous in Two Weeks or Less (Robinovitz and del Cruz), 131–32 Huang Guangyu, 1 Hulbert, Ann, 24 Hurricane Katrina, 149, 210–12, 262 hybrid ties, 132, 249 hydrogen bonding, 12 Ice Bound (Nelson), 113 identity, 14, 63–66, 71, 80, 90, ...
-
Corridors Of Power
By C.P. SnowThe corridors and committee rooms of Whitehall are the setting for the ninth in the Strangers and Brothers series.
-
Strangers
By Dean KoontzA group of seemingly unrelated people experiences sensations of numbing terror and fear and, groping their way toward one another, discover their sinister, shared secrets in a chilling climax that changes their lives forever. Reissue.
-
The Care of Strangers
By Ellen MichaelsonWinner of the 2019 Miami Book Fair/de Groot Prize, The Care of Strangers is a moving story about friendship set in a gritty Brooklyn hospital, where a young woman learns to take charge of her life by taking care of others.
-
The Kindness of Strangers
By Katrina KittlePowerful and poignant, The Kindness of Strangers is a shocking look at how the tragedy of a single family in a small suburban town can affect so many.
-
The Necessity of Strangers: The Intriguing Truth About Insight, Innovation, and Success
By Alan GregermanOur survival instincts naturally cause us to look upon strangers with suspicion and distrust, but in The Necessity of Strangers, Alan Gregerman offers the provocative idea that engaging with strangers is an opportunity, not a threat, and ...
-
Friends and Strangers
By J. Courtney Sullivan"From the best-selling author of Maine, a gorgeous, compulsively-readable novel that tells the story of the complex relationship between two women, Elisabeth, a privileged new mother and writer attempting to find her footing after ...
-
Strangers to Ourselves
By Timothy D. WilsonShowing us an unconscious more powerful than Freud's, and even more pervasive in our daily life, Strangers to Ourselves marks a revolution in how we know ourselves.
-
This Land of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis That Imperils Home, Work, Politics, and Faith
By Robert Estle HallThis Land of Strangers: The Relationship Crisis That Imperils Home, Work, Politics, and Faith