'A Little More Social': Why you should talk to strangers more often

In "A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health and Connection," University of Chicago business school professor Nicholas Epley explores how beginning conversations with strangers and having deeper conversations, rather than talking about the weather, can increase our happiness.

Host Indira Lakshmanan speaks with Epley about the book.

By Nicholas Epley

From "A Little More Social" © 2026 by Nicholas Epley. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.