Acquired: Walden's Books
Retail Price: $15.99
Sale Price: $13.75
Number of Pages: 276
Synopsis: In his #1 bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. In BLINK, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. How do we make decisions--good and bad--and why are some people so much better at it than others? That the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between food decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus. BLINK displays all of the brilliance that has made Malcolm Galdwell's journalism so popular and his books such a perennial bestsellers as it reveals how all of us can become better decision makers--in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life.
Stars:★★★
Review: This book is crazy to read. If you like books that make you think about everything and anything this is totally the book for you. Malcolm Gladwell is amazingly detailed in every aspect of this book. Of how people's unconscious "thin slice". The book talks about how the human brain processes slight amounts of information and how we make decisions without realizing it just from the information we gathered. And all of this happens without even knowing that we are making these conclusions. There are many examples about the good effects of thin slicing, but Malcolm Gladwell doesn't forget to include how horribly things can go wrong if you evaluate a situation to quickly or if you don't absorb all the information that is given to you. Thin slicing is broken down and thoroughly explained by many studies, interviews, and quirky examples that make you laugh and smile and really make you want to learn more.
Blink has studies that include: married couples, pop culture, malpractice lawsuits, Pepsi/Coke taste test, and the Millennium Challenge (a study done by the United States armed forces that involved a computer simulation that broke down an enemy's weaknesses and strengths). There are relatable examples from medicine to improve theater; he even refers to speed dating in one chapter. The book itself holds many thought provoking stories from history that many or most people may have heard or learned about, but he breaks this history down. He reexplains these historic events in the eyes of someone who is in the process of thin slicing and how important this skill came into play on that very day.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the human brain and how we process and evaluate a situation. The cool thing about Blink is that not only did I learn from this book, the information was presented in an entertaining manner. I was never bored and I haven't been seen these past two weeks without the book in arm's reach of me. It may have taken me much longer to read than most books, but it was only because this book was so jammed packed with information. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I most certainly learned a whole lot from it. Malcolm Gladwell also has written: The Tipping Point, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures.
