Talking to people

[jack]

I'm getting better at chatting to strangers on the train, provided they want to talk about the Riemann Hypothesis and guaranteed basic income.

But I still want to get better at finding topics of conversation intermediate between "nice weather, isn't it?" and "so, lets argue about politics and god, and lets talk about set theory". Any suggestions for finding interesting but not-too-contovertial topics, if I'm talking to friends or acquaintances and don't want to force them to carry the conversation?

Comments

[ceb]

I find films & TV are particularly easy to start conversations on due to the way there's a limited number of them at any one time and they're time limited, which means you can say "oh have you seen X that was on recently" and that's a very natural conversation starting line. OTOH I tend to be quite behind on what's currently on. Books and music can also be fruitful but with a stranger it's harder to hit on an overlap you can both talk about (unless they luckily happen to be on a train reading a thing you've also read).

[wild_irises]

I was going to say movies and TV also (movies go far even with strangers). Also pets. Also interesting odd bits in the news, not (or at least not very) political. Also, things seen out the window.

[jack]

I think I struck gold hearing a cute couple talking discussion a novel about the Riemann Hypothesis[1] :)

[1] Apparently it's not *very* about the Riemann hypothesis, but I don't think any other novel I've read has even mentioned it :)

[mair_in_grenderich]

what book?

[jack]

http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumber=mf1113

The Humans by Matt Haig. When I looked it up, the Riemann hypothesis seemed to be more of a MacGuffin than a relevant part of the plot, so I was less excited to read it, but I was still pleased :)

[mair_in_grenderich]

cool :)