The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening

Ari Shapiro 2023

This book is a mix of autobiography and interviews, not the interviews themselves, but Ari’s descriptions of the interviews and background information

Some things I learned from listening to the book:

• Gay bars have always been places where gays feel at home, are welcomed and find family, they are way more than bars.

• Interviewing ‘ordinary’ people is important, curiosity is important, what every person has to say is critical to our understanding of the world. 

• We should always come out of an interview with something unexpected - if we think we know the answers going in, we should listen carefully because most likely we didn’t know the answers.

• Unexpected stories arise - think about how to follow them through.

Listening to this book inspired me to continue interviewing people and sharing those interviews here.  I understood that I was not alone in being fascinated by people’s experiences and the many ways we live our lives.