 Good, Not Great, Book about Culture and Intuition 6 of 6 people found this review helpful.
In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell offers his account of humanity's seemingly instantaneous judgment in critical situations. The book features a series of fascinating anecdotal case studies, skilled interweavings of psychological experiments, explanations, and unexpected connections which have become part of Gladwell's writing style since Tipping Point.
At the outset of Blink, he illustrates how incredibly complex decisions are often made in the matter of seconds: experts on Greek art, who had no vested interest in judging a rare 6th-century sculpture of a youth as authentic, sensed immediately that it was fake. But Gladwell points out that if expertise, or mere accumulated experiences sufficed, humans could unerringly trust these decisions made as rapidly as the blink of an eye, but, as he illustrates through several counterpuntal stories, such blinks can also be deceptive. It should be noted that he seems to stretch some of his examples to conform to his blink-of-an-eye theory.
Gladwell is an impressive synthesizer and is, in that sense, a model for both teachers and students. Because of his skills as a journalist, the book is accurate and informative -- complete with numerous anecdotes. Blink is a satisfying and informative read, but not as scholarly as some might have you believe.
Review ID: 10000000009530201  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.   Malcom Gladwell's Blink is a fast, excellent read 8 of 10 people found this review helpful.
"Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking" is Malcom Gladwell's challenge for readers and society to follow intuition and glance. Gladwell cleverly and powerfully outlines the power of snap judgments - the key, as he puts it, is to analyze behaviors and situations using "thin slices" and "adaptive unconsciousness".
The struggle is simple and prevalent in business, life, relationships etc - simply put, people tend to over analyze and over think. Though this is a natural inclination, it is dangerous and time-consuming. Gladwell challenges us to act differently - but training ourselves and our surrounding to quickly adapt and interpret. But unlike most self-help books, Gladwell doesn't begin and end with a challenge - he walks readers through the need, the solution, etc - all in a thoughtful, well-developed manner.
I encourage readers not to form an opinion of the book based on the first chapter - which is slow and underdeveloped. The fundamental trouble with Gladwell's book (though I quite enjoyed it and found it quite powerful) is that, like all similar books, must be taken for what its worth. While its dangerous to always overthink - its equally dangerous to always rely on the adaptive unconscious. The true answer lays somewhere between the two extremes - Gladwell does a fine job allowing you to arrive there and I believe that is the goal he set out to achieve.
Also recommended:
The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book by Patrick Lencioni
Review ID: 10000000000000443 Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. | |
All rights reserved.
) 
) 
