Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780141014593
ISBN: 0141014598
Label: Penguin
Manufacturer: Penguin
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: February 23, 2006
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: February 23, 2006
Sales Rank: 160
Studio: Penguin

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk:
: For Blink, Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling The Tipping Point explores the extraordinarily perceptive and deceptive power of the sub-conscious mind. Gladwell’s major claim is that decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as a decision made cautiously and deliberately. What we are actually doing is what Gladwell calls ‘thin-slicing’. When we leap to a decision or have a hunch our unconscious is sifting through the situation in front of us looking for a pattern, throwing out the irrelevant information and zeroing in on what really matters. Our unconscious mind is so good at this that it often delivers a better answer than more deliberate and protracted ways of thinking. Much of this is utterly mysterious but some of the most astonishing and useful examples of thin-slicing can be learned.

 

Gladwell hopes to convince us that our snap judgements and first impressions can be educated and controlled so instead of merely praising the mysterious process of instinct and intuition he is interested in those moments when our instincts betray us, the situations where our powers of rapid cognition can go awry, where we fail to read the signs. Most disturbing of all is the degree to which culturally determined preconceptions and prejudices control us. Without reducing matters to racism and sexism Gladwell shows us that there are facts about people’s appearance—their size or shape or color or sex—that can trigger a very similar set of powerful associations which explains why utter mediocrities (such as U.S. President Warren Harding) can sometimes end up in positions of enormous responsibility; or why tall people earn substantially more than their shorter colleagues; or why car salesmen unconsciously charge prices according to race and gender.

 

Gladwell’s conversational prose style is concise, informative, accessible and entertaining. The stories, scientific findings and psychological tests are consistently surprising whether he is dealing with speed-dating, record promotions, police shoot-outs, the human face, or the reasons doctors get sued. --Larry Brown END




Rating: - An enjoyable and compelling read - more something that gets you thinking and not an intense scientific analysis.
'Blink' is, as many others have said, an anecdotal, absorbing book on the premise of just how powerful gut instincts can be. It's not an in-depth analysis or criticism of theory, but as I picked it up that wasn't what I was looking for anyway. As a Psychology student, I read it outside of my course for enjoyment and not only does it give grounding to such an interest (i.e. a friend in her 3rd year of Psychology is using 'thin-slicing' in her project, and I lent her this book to help her understand ... Read More

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Rating: - A Critical Decision Making Tool!
Sometimes decisions need to be made quickly. All of our knowledge, education, experience, reasoning, intuition, common sense and confidence must come together rapidly.

Malcolm Gladwell calls quick decision making thin slicing in his book: Blink. Thin slicing is the ability to focus on a small set of critical variables to make a quick decision rather than consciously considering every possible variable.

Many decisions are time dependent. Weighing the amount of information ... Read More

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Rating: - A new way of seeing
In the blink of an eye we gather huge amounts of information. The author, Gladwell, likens our brains to giant computers capable of processing lots of data in a flash. I found it fascinating how we can use this information either for survival purposes and / or we can apply our intuitive knowledge to any given situation. The author coins the term "thin slicing" to explain the process of applying one's intuition. He states that we are often suspicious of trusting this intuition because it's so quick and ... Read More

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Rating: - Enjoyable read
Gladwell's prose is effortlessly readable and the reader is constantly entertained by his anecdotes. I don't think he is a great thinker, but he presents his concepts very clearly and you immediately see how they are reflected in your own life. What the book lacks is a structured argument -by the end you feel as if it hasn't really gone anywhere. Nevertheless it's a very enjoyable read. Along similar lines, I would recommend Steve Taylor's excellent Making Time Making Time: Why Time Seems to Pass at Different ... Read More

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Rating: - Doesn't this guy understand irony
I am sorry but a book that discussing making good judgemnts on minimal information that then goes into page after page of repeating the same tired old examples and gives too much information. As the book says I knew it was right in the first few pages - why would I need the rest of it - now thats ironic

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