The Gray Area with Sean Illing takes a philosophy-minded look at culture, technology, politics, and the world of ideas. Each week, we invite a guest to explore a question or topic that matters. From the the state of democracy, to the struggle with depression and anxiety, to the nature of identity in the digital age, each episode looks for nuance and honesty in the most important conversations of our time. New episodes drop every Monday.
https://www.vox.com/vox-conversations-podcast
episode 262: Malcolm Gladwell’s Stranger Things
Malcolm Gladwell’s work is nothing short of an intellectual adventure.
Sometimes, as in his podcast Revisionist History, he takes something small and mundane — a hockey statistic, a semicolon, a verbal tic — and draws a broad, sweeping conclusion that shatters your worldview.
Other times, as in his new book Talking to Strangers, he takes something big and contentious — the death of Sandra Bland, the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox, the ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff — and produces insights that challenge conventional wisdom, leaving you wondering how you missed what he saw all along.
In either case, once you’ve experienced what Gladwell has to say, you can never see things in quite the same way again.
This conversation is an adventure of its own. We cover everything from the secrets behind Gladwell’s creative process to the basic social ingredient that undergirds all of modern society to the story of how an entire field office of the CIA got infiltrated by Cuban spies — and what that teaches us about human nature.
So, tune in and be a part of this adventure with us.
Books recommendations:
Exit, Voice, and Loyalty by Albert Hirschman
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
The Fall of Heaven: The Pahlavis and the Final Days of Imperial Iran by Andrew Scott Cooper
Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com
News comes at you fast. Join us at the end of your day to understand it. Subscribe to Today, Explained
We are conducting an audience survey to better serve you. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps out the show. Please take our survey here
Register to attend the live Ezra Klein Show taping in SF
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices