Rent: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

By Malcolm Gladwell

About Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking - Book Description

Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff

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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Reviews by BookSwim Members

written by BookSwimmer on 10/17/2008

honestly, this book can be condensed to about 10 pages. basically, sometimes first impressions are right, sometimes they are wrong. but who didn't know that already?

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written by missgroke on 05/28/2008

A solid book that changed the way I think about decision-making and first impressions. Definitely worth the rent!