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Oct 18, 2007

Matt rated it:

Here's Blink in a nutshell:

Split decisions can be good; better than decisions where we take a lot of time to carefully weigh our options and use scientific evidence.

Except when they're not.

Rapid cognition is an exciting and powerful way to use your brain's quick, intuitive capabilities to make stunningly accurate decisions, and can even lead you to have better success in sports, business and politics.

Except when it won't.

We should lea More...

15 comments like (104 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Laurie rated it:

The funny thing is that I don't consider myself to be a literary or intellectual snob at all but I really feel that it is not reality television, not celebrity talk shows, and not pop punk records but instead this genre of books that will be the downfall of our civilization. The studies referenced in this book are sometimes fascinating (the only one I really remember is the online racial profiling test, that blew my mind) but are usually poorly cited. At best, they must leave even the most ind More...

9 comments like (65 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Nina rated it:

For anyone who is thinking about reading this book, I highly recommend it. However, I also recommend reading it as a series of fascinating, well-told stories. It is really nothing more and nothing less.

One of the criticisms I heard about this book before I read it is that Gladwell lays out his theory in the first chapter, and the rest of the book is just example after example supporting his theory. I agree, however it would be a serious mistake to only read the first chapter. The More...

1 comment like (34 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Margaret rated it:

I think this book wins my prize for Most Easily Misinterpreted to Serve Personal Agendas. Gladwell gets so into the interesting details of the case he's building, he really doesn't emphasize the final conclusions of the book at all, leaving people to think that the interesting details are the whole point, which is unfortunate. But then again, I'm not 100% sure I got the whole point.

Most of the folks I know think that this book is about how a person's gut instincts can be a better rea More...

0 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2008

Carolyn rated it:

Equally as fascinating as Gladwell's other book The Tipping Point. Really makes you think, consider your decisions differently.

Quotes:
But in the end it comes down to a matter of respect, and the simplest way that respect is communicated is through tone of voice.

Of the tens of millions of American men below five foot six, a grand total of ten in my sample have reached the level of CEO, which says that being short is probably as much of a handicap to corporate succes More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

Snezan rated it:

This work is worth a read, if not more than one. I hesitate to say too much, since I believe the conclusions it reaches are explored in the very beginning and will immediately inform the reader of its relevance. I don't know why that came out so long winded, the reader will find out how interested they are by the first or second chapter.

I found the book fascinating for its close look into social interactions, particularly between two people, and for explaining why i sometimes I think More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 31, 2009

Ashley rated it:

I would put this book in the category of "Freakonomics" and "The Tipping Point." By the same author as the latter title, Malcolm Gladwell, the purpose of this book is to weigh the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the power of the mind's ability to unconsciously leap to conclusions based on what is seen in the proverbial blink of an eye.

While I have read some negative reviews of Gladwell's book, mostly citing that he fails to inform the reader how to k More...

4 comments like (21 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Sheila rated it:

This book was really interesting. It discusses the way in which people can "thin-slice" a situation in a matter of seconds and make a judgement. This is where pre-conceived notions such as stereotypes can affect the way we react to something under a time constraint. It's about how our unconscious mind figures things out and affects how we feel or affects our actions before we even realize what is happening. Even if you aren't a racist, you can be programmed to act as a racist by the th More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Otis rated it:

A must read - really interesting stories about how people process things unconsciously.
- for instance, you can't hide your feeling about race from your unconscious - take the Race Test (http://www.understandingprejudice.org/ia...). It said I (and 13% of test-takers) have a 'moderate automatic preference for European American compared to African American'. It also said 48% of test-takers have a "Strong automatic preference for White people" - crazy!
- I loved the bit about More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2010

Mahlon rated it:

Malcolm Gladwell has written yet another thought-provoking book. In Blink he postulates that often our first impressions or gut instincts are more likely to lead us to the the correct decision than if we spent a long time gathering information and weighing out the pros and cons of the particular situation. In other words, you should "trust your gut" In trademark Gladwell fashion he uses many entertaining stories and case studies to illustrate his points, while at the same time cautioni More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 13, 2008

Max rated it:

The general topic was how powerful our initial impressions are because we can process stuff really quick at a subconscious level in some cases.

Blink was well written and pretty entertaining. I thought the author did a good job of coming up with interesting examples of good or bad information processing and I enjoyed reading those.

However, aside from writing style and some fun examples, I thought the content was quite neatly separable into two parts:
(a) st More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2008

Sarah rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2007

MacKenzie rated it:

so i bought this book in boston's logan airport about 10 minutes before i had to board a flight to seattle. the bookstore was limited; i didn't want to have to work to get interested. and the first 100 pages or so did the trick... until i realized that gladwell wasn't so much building an argument as telling stories about a certain topic. don't get me wrong, i finished the book. later. back in boston, on the T. and it did cover some interesting studies, or i wouldn't have done so. but i su More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

Amy rated it:

Fascinating book! I would describe Blink as promoting self-awareness more than self-help. It's a captivating exploration of the ability of our unconscious minds to accurately(much of the time)read the world around us. The psychological studies featured offered refreshing evidence that it isn't always in our best interest to slow down and think rationally. I wouldn't base an investment strategy on Gladwell's "thin-slicing" methods, but when it comes to matters of life and death, love, t More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Graham rated it:

This is pop psychology, pages and pages of narrative prose describing civil war battles, musical careers, and police chases in support of the premise that we underestimate the part of our mind that makes snap judgments.

Gladwell did some sort of research, but research in relation to psychology implies a thesis tested against authoritative sources. Assembling a series of cool stories and presenting them as case studies seems a little disingenuous.

The conclusion I reach is More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Doc Opp rated it:

As an empirical psychologist by training, I get very annoyed at journalists who simplify things to the point that its no longer even remotely accurate. Such is the case for Blink. This is especially annoying to me, because the book describes my area of research specialization. If you're interested in a fun read, Gladwell is certainly an engaging author. If you're looking for something that accurately describes the research, I'd recommend looking elsewhere.

For example, Scott Pl More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2011

Paul 'Pezski' rated it:

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell explores the phenomenon he calls 'thin slicing'; the human ability to winnow out, in fractions of a second, salient facts from a mass of information and make a decision based on them. Something most of us do all the time without giving it much conscious thought – reading the facial expressions and body language of the people with whom we interact, walking down a busy street (or a quiet street late at night), our subconscious minds processing hundreds or even thousands More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 13, 2009

Sarah rated it:

LOVED this book. I read "The Tipping Point" awhile ago and found both books equally fascinating. The short subject studies that the author uses are interesting, easy to follow, and compelling evidence of his "theory" or study in first impressions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sociology, psychology, or who spends a lot of time interacting with people. You will learn how and when to trust your "gut feeling" or first impressions of people More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Kiri rated it:

Fascinating! I have to admit, in the first chapter I had a little knee-jerk reaction when I thought he was saying that our intuitive reactions are invariably correct. As I continued to read I appreciated his skill in outlining the complexity of his theory, and the fact that only one who is trained in a particular field can really articulate what is happening in his or her unconscious decision-making process. He also explained how that unconscious reaction can be skewed by unrelated factors, t More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2011

Dodoworld is currently reading it

Chapter 2:

Felt off balanced in this chapter due to starting with tennis players {hate tennis}.Alright , the author presents snap judgments in a quite nice way, but a serious question bears in mind ` How can I control this kinda judgments?o_O'. I totally agree with reviews here that snap judgments are more better than the longest one which might fail while applying it in a real pic.
"Primed for Action" ,however, it is more impressive how the author uses the truth of " More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 21, 2009

Greg rated it:

I was really expecting more from this book. I've heard mostly good things about Gladwell, and he had a pretty interesting TED talk, and I enjoy almost anything to do with the brain, so...why not?

The book certainly brought up a lot of interesting ideas and discussed different elements that go into the snap decisions that we make every day, and is probably worth a read for many of the stories and experiments related. But for the most part this book really failed to impress. More than t More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2009

Ed rated it:

I didn't learn much from this book that I did not already know. I am beginning to suspect that Malcolm Gladwell is not writing books that uncover valuable facts that we should know, but rather is writing books that restate facts we already know but in an interesting way.

I like his anecdotal stories very much which is why I finished the book - hoping for more stories. When he lays out the facts, though, his writing is no more interesting than any other scientific author.

More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2009

Zinta rated it:

Where does it all go, after you are done experiencing the experience, thinking the thought, feeling the feeling? Nothing is ever lost. The subconscious is like a vast warehouse, limitless, in fact, and as Malcolm Gladwell illustrates in Blink, we access all that is stored in that warehouse with every blinking and waking moment.

Usually, we call this instant access - gut instinct. Or, the inner voice of wisdom. Instinct, however, is nothing magical or mysterious. It is simply our accum More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2009

Carolyn rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 11, 2008

Soma rated it:

Both "Blink" and "The Tipping Point" are nonfiction writings that deal with social structures and human tendancies and the unassuming look at these.
"Tipping" is more a look at society on a large scale. It has to do with trends: what makes something popular and who is involved in that process and why it works. This isn't a look at advertising or corporate businesses (although the does look at those, too) but rather a journey into the dynamics and parts of these More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 11, 2008

Mike rated it:

A very fast read, with enough intriguing anecdotes and stray, smart claims to merit a look. But I do find it ironic that a book about the merits of snap judgment would be so aggravatingly repetitive, constantly reminding readers about anecdotes from earlier in the novel, constantly repeating its argument. (I enjoy Gladwell's essays in the New Yorker, and perhaps he just plays better in such small doses, where the emphasis is more on the well-polished narrative than on the analysis built theref More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2010

Ms. C. Sharp rated it:

Malcolm Gladwell has written a book about the power of first impressions (aka intuition/ your gut feeling). He provides a series of anecdotes about the process of first reactions including a tale about a forged ancient Greek statue at the Getty that some experts deemed as authentic and others classified as a fake upon sight. In another anecdote, he scrutinizes a "couples lab" where psychologist John Gottman determines if a matched pair will last the test of time by studying their conve More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2008

Richard rated it:

Generally speaking people like to have as much information as possible before making big decisions. Malcolm Gladwell's book takes a close look at the split-second decisions we make over and over without conscious knowledge. This may be called intuition, a flash of insight, or, as described in his book, "thin-slicing." But they have in common those impressions and judgements that come without the large amount of data and time that we often think as necessary to make informed decision.
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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2007

Atul rated it:

It’s about six-forty in the morning and I just finished Blink, by Malcom Gladwell. I have yet to read The Tipping Point by the same author, but now, I am not sure that I will.

The problem with any book is its reputation - especially if there is a lot of it. For some reason - it kept reminding me of Freakonomics - only this was esoteric on the dull side.

There is a trend (I am not sure who started it) of looking at the world as if suddenly we are finding new things. These bo More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 06, 2007

Angela Dawn added it

I have this book on audio CD read by the author.
He is both a wonderful writer and an excellent narrator.
I'm sure we'll hear a lot more from him.
He's seems to be fairly bursting with fresh ideas, and a new, and uniquely insightful point of view.

In this book, Gladwell, a masterful synthesist, skillfully draws from a wide range of fields to support his characteristically intriguing conclusions.
He reveals and provides insight into the mostly unconsciou More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)