Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell

Why is it that you never get a second chance to make a first impression? How come everyone wants to believe that you can't judge a book by its cover, but we all do it anyway? What happens in those moments when a split-second decision ends up being the best choice we could have made?

Malcolm Gladwell knows. And he explains it, as much as it can be explained, in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

Following up on the amazing success of his first book, The Tipping Point, Gladwell hits another home-run with Blink. The Tipping Point has hit a cultural saturation point-- or, if you will, a tipping point-- and is beginning to show up everywhere: businesses talk about it, the media talks about it. I even found a reference to it on ESPN's news site. Now, I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but my hunch is that Blink will have just as much impact and saturation as The Tipping Point.

Like The Tipping Point, Gladwell challenges our conventional understanding of how things work-- in this case, how we think. Bink offers a unique study of "thin-slicing"-- the idea that the narrowest sliver of information on a subject can sometimes convey more than a comprehensive examination of the same subject. "Blink," Gladwell writes, "is about those first two seconds." Throughout the book he demonstrates that our assumptions about thinking-- that "experts" always know or understand their fields better than "amateurs", that intensive scrutiny surely reveals more than a cursory glance-- are often mistaken, sometimes frighteningly so.

Gladwell's writing style is rich, lively, and enthralling. He is a master storyteller, yet he also understands stories in a way that many don't: he knows how much truth can be conveyed in stories. He also recognizes how much real life is stranger and more intriguing than fiction, and his books are full of real-life tales. From the very start, Gladwell will hook you with his fascinating renditions of new and, at times, obscure accounts that he weaves together seamlessly.

These stories are so diverse as to appear unconnected. He looks at how a seasoned marriage therapist can assess the health of a marriage by watching a few seconds of interaction. He considers why every industry expert was convinced of the future of a musician who couldn't get a record contract. He ponders why it took many major symphony orchestras so long to hire female performers. And he examines why the U.S. president that everyone loved turned out to be one of the worse ever. All because of "Blink" moments-- the first impressions, the instant decisions.

From record companies to New York City policemen, from food critics to military war games to New Coke, Gladwell reaches into nearly every arena to pull examples, illustrations, and parables into his explanations. What results is an intellectual gourmet meal prepared by a four-star chef: multiple courses combined in ways you would never have imagined, just enough of each element and all of it marrying together perfectly to leave you simultaneously satisfied and wanting more.

Be prepared to put other cares aside when you pick up Blink. You will want to give it your full attention.