Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Blink is another thought-provoking book by Malcolm Gladwell that examines the power of our subconscious minds to make quick and accurate judgments. Gladwell argues that sometimes, our intuitive decisions are more reliable than those based on deliberate thought. Key themes and concepts: The power of intuition: The book explores how our subconscious minds can process information rapidly and make accurate judgments without conscious deliberation. The dangers of overthinking: Gladwell argues that excessive analysis can sometimes lead to poor decision-making. The importance of context: The book emphasizes the role of context in shaping our intuitive judgments. Examples explored in the book: The ability of experts to make quick and accurate judgments based on a brief glance The role of intuition in interpersonal relationships The challenges of making decisions based solely on conscious thought Why this book is important: Understanding decision-making: Blink provides valuable insights into the complex ways in which our minds make decisions. Practical applications: The concepts presented in the book can be applied to various fields, including business, leadership, and personal relationships. Engaging storytelling: Gladwell's writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex ideas easy to understand. If you're interested in learning more about the power of the subconscious mind and the art of decision-making, Blink is a fascinating read.

I bought this on the recommendation of a friend, but i'm a little shocked to see such criticism of Gladwell's work in the reviews on Amazon. In my opinion, Gladwell writes exceedingly well and puts across his points with entertaining and interesting examples. At 250 pages, it doesn't drag on too much. It confronts you with the main points, and the examples, and then moves the narrative along. I do understand some of the criticism leveled at this book though: it seems to switch between telling you that leveraging your intuition MORE is going to leave you better off, then progresses onto examples where doing exactly that is worse! As a researcher with some knowledge of half or more of these concepts already, I do think Gladwell could have done a far better job of bringing together the points he was making and offering some practical, grounded advice. Even if that was, as it would have likely been, a middle-ground approach - where intuitive and rational thinking need to be balanced and weighted differently depending on the context - it would have been nice to at least have some part of this work that brought it all together. Despite these criticisms, i'd still recommend this to friends or family as it's a short read which offers interesting stories and grounding in academic literature.

A fascinating book that is very easy to read. Written in anecdotal style, Gladwell illustrates his points simply without academic jargon, the very first Chapter which is only 5 pages long has you gripped. Spotting which relationships will fail, wanting something so badly that you make the decision fit your desire, unconscious bias … and so on. I have given this book as a gift several times.

I find the way the human brain works an endlessly fascinating subject so I enjoy reading books like this. The author looks at the way people make up their minds in an instant about something. Those first impressions may not always be right but in many cases they are and they can go against all logic and reason and even against scientific evidence. I think the most striking example he uses is the first one in the book. The statue which science said was genuinely old but many expects saw it and immediately knew it to be a fake and were eventually proved right. How did they know? The author analyses many such startling examples including fire men who got their men out of a burning building just before the floor collapsed even though there was nothing that was telling them consciously that things were dangerous. If you read many books like this you do start to recognise these incidents in use to demonstrate many aspects of the functioning of the human brain. I found the example of the maverick who outwitted large forces in war games by thinking laterally and well outside the box of particular interest - even though I find war abhorrent - as the same principles can be applied to management. Following tried and tested procedures isn't always the best way to deal with unusual situations. This is a popular science book but it has plenty of notes on the text and an index and it is written in an easy and accessible style. If you want an academic version of the same subject then I recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow

Unfortunately I didn't properly research this book prior to reading, and as a result it didn't match my expectations. This book is a collection of stories, and many of them are long and descriptive, indeed many of the details such as 'character development' used to give the stories depth, were irritating as I was more focused on the psychology concepts, for which I found very few in this book. Some of the concepts in psychology held as fact in this book are actually areas of considerable and growing disagreement in the academic world of psychology, for instance the certainty by which people can mind-read and interpret facial expressions. The author would have benefited from reading Lisa Barret's work on constructivism for instance. I feel that the author would have benefited from a rigorous editor or co-author to challenge some of the more lazy scientific assertions. The author is a journalist, not a psychologist, and this topic deserves more scientific rigour.

Bel libro, interessante. Aiuta a capire come funziona la prima impressione. Lo consiglio a chiunque sia interessato ai meccanismi del cervello!

Malcolm Gladwell explores how we make decisions, especially snap decisions and comes to some very interesting and profound conclusions. As an analytical sort of person I tend to rely on gathering as much information as possible before making a decision, and then still taking my time about it. The book shows that sometimes we can have too much information and that sometimes the snap judgements, aided by extensive experience, can be more accurate. Gladwell also looks at how instinctive judgements can be badly lead, the causes for these and the sort of unwanted results, even tragedies, this can lead to. His conclusion sets out ways we can overcome biases caused by these conditioned judgements. This all done in Gladwell’s incredibly engaging style of wonderfully spun true stories that illustrate something profound. Even if you learn nothing from the book, it’s worth reading it just the cases and stories and how he tells them. All in all, it’s wonderfully enthralling and thought-provoking reading.

Great book and it arrived in great conditions

Lo compré porque me salió anunciado en un libro de árboles, y me atrajeron las reseñas. Es fácil de leer, y te mantiene enganchado porque usa anécdotas del mundo real y te las va analizando "científicamente". También te da algunos consejos para "mejorar" tu intuición.

When reading a Gladwell book, and I have most of his books, the research that he puts into them is clearly obvious. He is an incredible writer. He should win a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize or both for his very readable and very informative books. I am a retired University Professor and if I were still teaching, I would find a way to include some of Malcolm Gladwell's book into the curriculum of some of the Business School courses in Management that I taught both in the BComm and MBA level courses. His books would be very worthy of being added to a Business School Curriculum. I would guess they would quickly become student favourites. I'll bet students would say they learned much from his books!