Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Not necessarily that I agree with everything he writes, but the things he says are thought provoking and written in a concise manner. He weaves examples in and out of the book perfectly. I read his first book, The Tipping Point, a few months ago. A friend recommended reading Blink next. I flew through it. And I've already purchased Outliers, another one of his books.

Blink is about snap judgments, decision making, and unconscious thinking. Malcolm Gladwell's point is maybe we are overthinking too much. He has a ton of interesting examples. The simplest way to explain it is from the first page of the book. A museum wanted to purchase a rare piece of art, but they questioned it's authenticity. They conducted a bunch of research on it, comparing it to fakes, looking up supporting documents, scientifically testing the piece of art. But there was one problem. A few experts who simply looked at the piece of art instantly thought it was a fake. They didn't have any proof, but they could tell. How so? That is what the book seeks to explain.

I will say I wasn't completely convinced. It's hard to tell when you should stop to think and when your should trust your instincts. And Gladwell admits this. There's not one answer that fits every case. But he does try to provide research to support his theories. I found the unconscious many of the stories fascinating.

My rating for Blink: 3 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. Next week is The Great Gatsby. I'm going to try to see the movie after I finish the book to add a little spice to the blog next week.