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Once Upon a Stranger

The Science of How ‘Small’ Talk Can Add Up to a Big Life

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Once Upon a Stranger

Yazan: Dr Gillian Sandstrom
Seslendiren: Nan McNamara
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'If you've ever wondered about, worried about, and avoided talking to strangers, this book might change your mind. ' Angela Duckworth, author of Grit.

Gillian Sandstrom, 'one of the world's experts...on conversational canapes.' The Times

In an age when we live head down in our phones, working remotely and wary of strangers, interacting with our fellow human beings feels increasingly uncomfortable. And the result - an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in a polarised society. Over 80% of people say they have experienced loneliness with the old and young suffering the most.

In Say Hello to Strangers, Professor in the Psychology of Kindness and a self-confessed introvert Gillian Sandstrom, draws on her own experiences as well as the latest scientific research to show the life-transforming potential of a tiny everyday exchange with a stranger. For Gillian, such moments led to an entirely new career, a move to a new country and meeting her life partner.

Not every exchange that you have, whether it's with the person who makes your coffee or the one you stand next to in a lift, will lead to such momentous events but they will give you a tiny moment of joy, a spark of connection, the recognition of a fellow human. Just start small...look up, and say hello - you never know where the conversation will lead.©2026 Dr. Gillian Sandstrom (P)2026 HarperCollins Publishers
Communication & Social Skills Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Relationships
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Eleştirmen yorumları

If you've ever wondered about, worried about, and avoided talking to strangers, this book might change your mind about giving strangers their space.
Gillian Sandstrom's voice is at once wise and warm. While her insights are grounded in rigorous research, they never feel overly academic. The result is immediately relatable and deeply necessary.
A fascinating, fun, and inspiring look at all the good things that happen when we set aside our hang-ups, re-enter the world, and talk to strangers.
Gillian Sandstrom makes her case for talking to strangers using research, expertise, and a reading experience that feels like sitting in a pub and having a chat with a friend. Her subject matter couldn't be more crucial in a world that's suffering from a loneliness epidemic, but the book is welcoming, compassionate, and filled with cheery humor.
In Once Upon a Stranger, Gillian draws on decades of research, including her own groundbreaking work and personal experiments, to make a case I find completely persuasive: small talk isn't small at all. Instead, it's a gateway to belonging, opportunity, and meaning.

She also gives you the tools to actually do it - how to quiet your inner critic, cross the "liking gap," and start conversations that could change your career, your relationships, or the trajectory of someone else's day. You might even discover that a stranger has been carrying the missing puzzle piece for the next chapter of your life. Read this book, and you won't just believe a simple "hello" matters. You'll want to try it for yourself.
Sandstrom is not merely arguing that small talk is pleasant.... A stranger is not only a possible future friend, source of information, or opportunity. A stranger is part of the medium through which a day acquires texture, friction, surprise, recognition, relief. To lose those contacts is not just to become lonelier in a broad epidemiological sense. It is to inhabit a thinner world.
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This is a well researched and well explained book to give you motivation to overcome your inhibitions in talking to people. It’s full of the author’s personal anecdotes as well as research. As an uptight southern Englishman, who’s always wished he was more Northern and spoke to people at bus stops, this book has given the key. I’m convinced it’s the way to better mental health and happiness as well as social and material success.

The book is well read although it’s a pity the author only read the (very useful and practical) appendix - these kinds of book are best read by the author to inject a little more passion and authenticity.

The last few chapters possibly could have been condensed, as they didn’t add that much to the previous rich chapters. But thats a small criticism.

I came to this book, btw, after listening to the Blinkest summary. Very glad I listened to the full book.

I wish I’d had this book 30 years ago

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