Book Review: Blink - The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

You can read the entire book without thinking.

Stars: 3/5

After reading Malcolm Galdwell's first installment, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, I had some idea of what to expect from Blink; a lightweight and anecdote-laded book that appeals to a mainstream audience.

Blink is about gut feel, snap judgments, first impressions, interpreting facial expressions (which Gladwell calls mind reading) and a little bit more. Again, all backed by interesting stories of people and events moreso than empirical research.

The three tasks of Blink are:
1) Convince you that decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.
2) Answers the question: When should we trust our instincts and when should we be wary of them?
3) Convince you that our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled.

These snap judgments and first impressions are what Gladwell refers to as "thin-slicing", meaning "...the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experience." (pg. 23).

If you enjoyed the Tipping Point, then you certainly love Blink; more of the same Gladwell writing style and stories.


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Book Review: The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point

Stars: 3/5

Gladwell offers some interesting observations and ideas. Note, I said observations and ideas and not in-depth analysis and theories. His anecdotal style makes the content seem lightweight, which allows for a quick and enjoyable read. This would appeal to the mainstream crowd and may be the reason why it was a best seller.

His three tipping points for epidemics are: the Law of the Few (which include Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen), the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. Nice labels, I admit, but in reality I did not glean anything substantial from this book. I do, however, think the Case Study chapters, chapters 5 and 6, towards the end of the book were worthwhile; it's a shame that I had to read four chapters to get to them.

I had planned on reading Gladwell's next installment, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, but after reading the Tipping Point I'm in no hurry.


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