Blink
Ratings327
Average rating3.8
I decided to read this book after reading Talking to Strangers, also by Gladwell. While I gave Talking to Strangers a four star review, I initially decided I was going to give Blink a 5 star because the topic seemed more interesting to me. However, about halfway or three quarters through the book, everything became monotonous. Ultimately, Blink discusses one topic and can be summed up with one sentence, whereas Talking to Strangers had many topics being discussed, not just one central focus like Blink. I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others, especially because it's unique to learn how we function as human beings.
Less well-structured than others, but still a nicely-plotted book. Gladwell does an excellent job of tying together the untieable.
Boring and useless. Couldn't read it until the end, but looking through it I couldn't find anything of practical benefit, only a number of stories repeated in different words throughout the book.
I always enjoy reading Gladwell's work. I love his style of sharing his interviews in a sensory way. I love how he connects seemingly disparate stories. I love that I always feel better educated at the end of one of his books. I'm not sure if I could say I like this more or less than “The Tipping Point,” but I found myself taking countless notes for use in my own writing.
The second time through this book, & left with a warm feeling for the great story-telling ability of Malcolm Gladwell. A series of real interesting stories linked together around a simple theme of the interesting space around “rapid cognition”; those milli-seconds of brain activity and decision-making following a moment of decision. Well enjoyed.
A very interesting and thought-provoking book. The author analyzes how we make snap decisions. A very interesting look into our brain.
I enjoyed Outliers more, but this is yet another book by Gladwell that leads to deeper introspection and increased self-awareness. He had a lot of interesting examples throughout the book, and I liked that his reason for writing the book or how Blink came about so simplistically and yet addresses such a complex topic like “thin-slicing.” I want to be a counselor and particularly liked the sections using examples from that career field.
Too repetitive. Theme is contradicting that tells you to trust and not trust your instinct.
This was not as good as Outliers, though nonetheless entertaining, informative, and delivered in a way is uniquely Gladwell. I felt the formatting was odd, though I see the decisions on formatting likely benefited the flow. Such a wealth of information, abstraction, and conceptual relevance in pursuit of understanding could only have been broken down in so many ways. With that said, it wasn't overly distracting.
I, too, have been judged based on the styling of my hair. That being the last point made, and during the acknowledgements no less, sold me. I was going for three stars until that point. Having shared such an experience, which I happen to have related closely with, brought everything full circle.
I thought this book was pretty interesting, and it made me think a lot about thin and thick slicing.
Despite what detractors say, this is a fascinating book. Agree or disagree with his hypothesis, he provides some interesting data in support of himself. He doesn't rely on the supernatural, which some critics seem to think. IF they'd read the book more carefully, they'd realize the one time he mentions the supernatural, it's in reference to what someone else said about an occurrence in his own life. Mr Gladwell assuredly does not proclaim that supernatural powers assist in people making quick decisions. Rather, he concludes that one's subconscious processes information incredibly fast and makes those decisions without our having to mull them over. He clarifies that in some circumstances, this works to our benefit. But he also says innate prejudice can cloud our subconscious. I could find nothing absurd in this book, actually. It made sense to me, and it was absolutely fascinating, whether you agree with his conclusions or not.
El autor me gusta mucho y la idea del libro también. Por momentos tira muy buenos datos, pero se me hizo demasiado largo (sin necesidad), y tiene demasiados ejemplos con militares y policías que no suman tanto como se repiten.
This book is absolutely fantastic. It describes one of our #1 problem which is : we know that we make snap judgments, we know that those judgments are powerful but we do not know how to educate them and put them to good use. This book is full of examples of people using efficiently and appropriately those rapid cognition abilities to improve their understanding of their environment.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the human brain !
Very interesting studies in this book but I think he would have done better to structure it like freakonomics where there isn't an overarching purpose. Because after a while, I began to question it. “Really, Gladwell? The fact that people who are professional food testers aren't fooled by the coke pepsi challenge supports your blink thesis? (that despite everything being tied to it, I'm still not exactly sure what it is)
It really reminds me of Daniel Kahneman's “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” The book does a great job showing how our gut feelings can be super useful when we're drowning in info, but also how they can trick us, especially in high-stakes situations or when we've got built-in biases. What really hit home for me was how Gladwell ties this all back to real-world issues like the unfair jailing and wrongful killing of innocent Black men in America. It's eye-opening to see how quick judgments can have such big impacts.
This was a really interesting read, but I didn't feel like I learned anything useful and/or practical (I.e. Ways to improve the quality of split-second decisions).
With regard to non-fiction that I have read this year, I have mostly read history or biographies. To that end, I decided to change it up, and read something outside of my normal comfort zone. Enter in the book Blink: The Power of Thinking, Without Thinking by Malcomb Gladwell. I decided that a psychological book was just what I needed to break up what I believed was the boredom of reading about American history, without being completely lost on the topic. This text takes the idea of our first impression and shows us the major ways this can be used as a strength and a detriment in our everyday lives.
This book's main premise is that our brains are excellent at making snap judgements. These snap judgements are the gut feelings that we get about a person we first meet, or about a car that we are supposed to buy. We use these feelings to make everyday decisions that can benefit us in many ways, and at many different times. Yet they can also be a disadvantage to us as much as a help. Think when you are in sales and you guess wrongly that the teenager walking in cannot afford a car, yet they are willing to bring in their parents later that day. Or when you are a teacher who thinks a student is behaving terribly in your class because they are lazy when they have things going on at home that make school seem insignificant. These snap judgments can harm as many people as they can help, so what, in general, is the main thing to depend on when it comes to those snap judgements? The author says that you should trust your experiences and your expertise, but not let your biases get in the way.
Kind of a confusing answer, right? This is because there is no easy way to phrase it. In fact, this book may, at times, confuse more people than it may help. For me, at the very least, this text is one that made me more aware of my own personal biases and how snap judgements can either help or harm me, so there is that. In fact, if nothing else, this book makes me want to read the book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. As far as I know, that book is a spiritual successor to Blink, in that it goes into more detail about the times where we should think quickly, and also when we need more slow, deliberate thought.
In any case, I enjoyed this book for what it was, and I liked the journey of the mind that it took me on. I give it a four out of five.
This is a fun and light read. The author brings a lot of interesting cases that sparkled several conversation inside my head. Would it withstand a harsh peer review? Probably not, but who cares. The author just wants to inform you and make you think, not to shove some truth down your throat. Enjoy this book without thinking too much about it. The most interesting concepts will stay with you and make you a tiny bit more aware of what's going on around you.