The Kindness of Strangers

Product Information

What started out as (I thought) a sappy story soon became an amazingly illuminating read that could easily serve as educational, were it actual nonfiction. In honesty, I could not put it down..even so much as taking it to lunch with my husband and reading it before the food arrived. Painful, poignant, promising....and, unfortunately, more than possible. Von diesen Reisen erzählt Katie Adie nur wenig, aber das ist auch nicht nötig, denn das kann man sich in den Archiven der BBC immer wieder ansehen. sie erzählt von einem Mädchen, das schon früh die Dinge zu hinterfragen begann und sich gegen alles auflehnte, was ihre Freiheit einengte. Die als junge Frau fast durch Zufall zur BBC kam und sich dort erst behaupten musste. This book is an entertainingly written historical, evolutionary discussion, that complements many of the most pressing topics in today’s news and society. I see some ways this book is an optimistic view of some of the topics in the book “Sapiens”, where Harari points out the trade-offs we make by giving up individualism for society, McCullough shows the large leaps forward in the way we consider others has been beneficial for both. A sweeping psychological history of human goodness -- from the foundations of evolution to the modern political and social challenges humanity is now facing. Each character had such a strong role and life for that matter. I was impressed with who they were and who they became. I actually had these crazy sensations under my skin when I read parts of the book. It's always so hard to hear or read a child struggling. It just doesn't seem fair.

Nate convinces Sarah to become Jordan's foster mother with both parents in jail, since she's always taught her boys to reach out to others in need. We just didn't have any idea how needy Jordan is. I literally groaned reading this, knowing it is fiction, but for some children this is their life. The Kindness of Strangers' explores what it means to be vulnerable and to be helped by someone we've never met before. Someone who could have walked past, but chose not to. This book both made me want to travel, or more specifically to adventure, to more historically "out of bounds" or perhaps less trodden places but also offered some valuable life lessons. For example, sometimes taking is the best gift you can give (think restoring the dignity of refugees in, for example, the jungle). Only one character is discussed as family - the BBC itself. Like a complicated father, the BBC has contradictory attributes: amateurish, dedicated, tolerant, autocratic. It is an affectionate but exasperated portrait - Adie is lacerating about management's influence on news.

A must read if you can deal with the subject matter . An emotive,compelling tale of the horrors of abuse and how it affects not only the child but also the people it touches. Many of the stories take place in the middle east and Africa. The tone of the tales varies a lot. Some are light or funny, some are more philosophical, some are adventure stories, and at least one has a strong true crime plot line. There is quite a bit of suspense as the travelers encounter dangerous or uncertain circumstances on the road. The theme of kindness is mostly constant, although the term is interpreted broadly. My favorite is a beautifully and subtly written chapter by Anthony Sattin, a British citizen who makes a Palestinian pilgrimage. Another favorite takes place in Morocco, and it involves a case of mistaken identity and a rather startling description of the women's communal bath. The arrogance is again, not only awful, but he doesn’t even seem to recognize that he really almost killed his girlfriend in multiple ways. It's an extended 'From our Own Correspondent', really, the Correspondent being Kate Adie, and she's reporting on the Japes that she experienced in her rather exciting and privileged life.

After reading quite a few books about inequality, racism, and other issues that plague the world, this book was a bright light that was much needed in my reading rotation. I've been waiting for this book for months from Michael McCullough, and it was phenomenal. The Kindness of Stranger is a perfect blend of evolutionary psychology along with effective altruism, and I learned a ton by reading this book. This book is a perfect example of why I love my GR buddies- without them I never would have had this on my radar; I never would have known this existed, because let's be honest: that cover is easy to overlook. Don't let the cute cover fool you- this is emotionally draining. But it's worth it. This was a tough book for me. Child abuse and animal abuse are subjects I avoid. Books such as these prey on my mind. I have difficulty processing how the innocents of our world are targets for such madness. The book was well done, giving many character's perspective on the crisis. And while the subject was so serious, there were moments of relief written in.

Book Summary

Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia) Don't bother reading this if you want to find out about Ms Adie's personal life. I did find it interesting for fleshing-out the news stories that were on the telly as I was growing up, in particular Northern Ireland and the Falklands War.

Easy to read, McCullough sounds both realistic and upbeat about our chances of, as Peter Singer puts it, "expanding the moral circle." Indeed, McCullough tells a very progressivist story, with various "eras" moving us from the selfish ape of the title to people who more and more help those totally foreign to them.Travel opens our minds to the world; it helps us to embrace risk and uncertainty, overcome challenges and understand the people we meet and the places we visit. But what happens when we arrive home? How do our experiences shape us? Some actions/adventures or incidents felt a bit like a show-off to me or like absolutely ridiculous/dangerous acts and stupid decisions or even worse...travels for selfish motives that result to transfer one's responsibilities and been a burden to other people, coated with a slim excuse of self-discovery or charity or to prove the world is a nice place or whatever yada yada... Sarah Laden has her hands full raising her boys after the death of her husband. Two years later, she struggles to keep all her spinning plates in the air. Her oldest son Nate seems determined to make her life as difficult as possible. Being a teenager he chafes at the rules she sets down. And her younger son Danny, sweet and socially awkward, struggles daily with school and friendships. I absolutely loved this book. It is without a doubt one of the most heartbreaking books I've ever read, but also the most heartwarming, in an alternating pattern that varies throughout the book. Dealing with the aftermath of horrible child abuse in a way that is honest and real, there is no sugarcoating of facts to be found here. Obviously, things aren't blatantly described, but the author has no problem discussing the issue. But, at the same time, this is not a story about child abuse, but rather a story about triumph, survival, and the love and support of a family. The stories are as varies as the people who have written them; one writer tries to outrun a blizzard on her bicycle, an out of work forestry worker who would join Ed Stafford on the longest walk of his life and two men who wanted to do the Lands End to John O Groats route starting only in their underwear and who were utterly reliant on the generosity of strangers to clothe and feed them.