Name: Blink
Rating: 3.709677419354839 (434 reviews)
ISBN: 978-0316010665

Malcolm Gladwell

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Blink

Ritik Sahni

Quinn Tenorio

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.

Colleen

I first read Blink as a Junior in college. This book came highly recommended by almost all of my marketing professors even though it is not strictly a marketing book. However, the concepts in it do apply in many ways to business settings ranging from marketing to job interviews. But they also apply to every day situations from taste testing to reacting in life-threatening situations. This book was referenced in another book that I read recently, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, so I decided to reread it.

The subject of Blink is the adaptive unconscious. Whether we call it thin-slicing, gut feelings, or snap judgements, we do it every day. Gladwell explains what the adaptive unconscious is, when we should trust it, when we shouldn't, and how to improve our instincts. He explains his theory in the introduction and then proceeds to build his case through scientific studies and stories. The examples he used were all very interesting and well presented. Gladwell as talent for storytelling (even though it is nonfiction), and the book is easy to read and easy to relate to regardless of your background.

Intuition is often presented as the opposite of structured achievement. There are people who intuit the answer to a problem, and there are those who work it out the long and hard way. This distinction is false: intuitive facilities turn out to be gifts that are developed and educated by practice and experience.

Erwin Lemuel Oliva

Jeannette Ordas

I read this with my husband (yes, reading the book together at the same time) and I liked it. Interesting but not profound. Something to talk about at boring parties.

The landmark book that has revolutionized the way we understand leadership and decision making -- from #1 bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell. In his breakthrough bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant--in the blink of an eye--that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work--in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"--filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Quite an easy read, which I enjoyed. Really liked how it explored the balance between the amazing accomplishments that human intuition achieves while showing its equally significant shortcomings.

Jonah Kohei Foss

Kathy Jedrzejczyk

For the most part this was a very interesting read. It gave me some new perspectives about how the brain works. There were some surprising facts and studies cited. However, he was a little redundant. He really hammered home the point in many cases. Often within pages of each other he would have the same idea repeated. Other than that though it was a fun easy read.

Wenny

Snap judgement = heuristics. It's not so much about the subject itself, but rather that my view that the whole book could be distilled into one post is the main reason behind the two stars. Now Outlier - that's a fascinating read. Thank you, next.

Nour sabrine

I'm skeptical about Blink for various reasons. 
The principle of blink is based about gut feeling or as the cover says the power of thinking without thinking. I had my own gut feeling about this book and it turned out to be true. 
Though it might be insightful on a surface level, it's not essentially as deep as I thought it would. It presents many stories and correlates the events with first judgements and whether or not it confirms the blink hypothesis, but Its foundation is based on deconstructing the decision made through analysis which makes it believable but not reliable. 
We all know how gut feeling works but the book here emphasized mostly on how analysis and data failed. Adding to it the fact that some stories were clearly biased, for reference the millenium challenge and the result of it highlighted at the end. 
The book is for scientific purposes and seeing how biases are presented in it is a major downturn for a reader.

Still it's well crafted and for people who want to read it I'd still recommend it with a clear warning.

Nelson Zagalo

Apart all controversies made on the subject i still believe Gladwell presents enough evidences to support his ideas.
A must read.

Análise em português: http://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/2...

Sanat Gersappa

Fraser Simons

It’s almost comical how much Gladwell contradicts himself in this particular case. He draws conclusions that he directly disproves in subsequent sections. 

More than anything, it’s just entertaining to consume his work, but also, so long as you’re paying attention, always seems to end up like the scene in The Prestige when Michael Cain explains misdirection and makes the bird disappear. Only we know the bird is crushed by the cage and dead. And we just aren’t supposed to catch the dead body.

Well so it is with all Gladwell books. And really it makes a lot of sense when you see an interview with him where he says he considers his books launching pads for conversations. Kickstarts into the general intellect. But… no where in his actual books, that I’ve read anyways, is his actual intent every stated. He presents his thinking through the gesture of seemingly factual evidence and leads the reader on through the small hoops of his logic in order for his conclusions to appear factually true. 

Yet… the reader is supposed to infer that even he thinks this is just the beginning of the conversation as a whole? He clearly states what he thinks and why, even when drawing comical biased conclusions from information that would disprove something in the first section. What reason is there for the reader to think that he thinks he’s sending them on toward the actual “hard data”. (See below for a reference)

And the problem is that now those conclusions from the book are used as short hand in the general intellect, even when completely untrue. Like the 10,000 hour thing, or underdogs, or really any of his popular concussions. And because he is so popular, he really does have a larger responsibility. Especially now that we’ve seen the effect Gladwell has on culture. It’s legitimately disturbing, and easily remedied with a clear intent stated upfront on the book that is never there. 

At least with other books, as far as I could tell, he did not contradict himself so much. It hampered my enjoyment and that’s really all I came to these books for, knowing to take everything with a grain of salt. But even the prestige takes a turn from the fun of a magic trick to something far more sinister when you know the bird is dead, crushed by the cage for the audience. 

“In an interview with The Telegraph, Gladwell said, "The mistake is to think these books are ends in themselves. My books are gateway drugs—they lead you to the hard stuff." Gladwell himself is discrediting his own work, essentially saying you also need a Psych 101 textbook at your side to make sure everything jives with actual fact. If his books are not "ends in themselves," why does he go on with doing Ted talk after Ted talk, business meeting after business meeting masquerading around ideas that are truly stories that are inspired by science? The citations and studies he uses are simply the starting point for him to draw completely different, unrelated, and non-peer reviewed conclusions. They give his ideas unwarranted scientific legitimacy.”

https://www.thecrimson.com/column/beh...

Serah

Dropped this book, couldn’t get past half of it. I felt that the book was very descriptive and that I was just reading a collection of evidences. There were some interesting examples, but when there are many examples and a lack of insights (or a perceived lack of insights), the book becomes boring. Felt that the book can be shorter and more concise.

Sarah Ryan

An interesting listen. Malcolm Gladwell exploring how and why decisions can be made in a split second. If you liked Gladwell's other works you'll like this.

Renee Delcourt

A complete video review will later be put up on http://www.youtube.com/user/delcourtre

This book is crazy to read. If you like books that make you think about everything and anything this is totally the book for you. Malcolm Gladwell is amazingly detailed in every aspect of this book. Of how people's unconscious "thin slice". Thin slicing is broken down and thoroughly explained by many studies, interviews, and quirky examples that make you laugh smile and really make you want to learn more.

Blink has studies that include married couples, Pepsi/Coke taste test, and the Millennium Challenge (a study done by the United States armed forces that involved a computer simulation that broke down an enemy's weaknesses and strengths). There are relatable examples from medicine to improve theater. He even refers to speed dating in one chapter. The book itself holds many funny little interviews and thought provoking stories.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the human brain and how we process and evaluate a situation. The cool thing about Blink is that not only did I learn from this book, the information was presented in an entertaining manner. I was never bored and I haven't been seen these past two weeks without the book in arm's reach of me. It may have taken me much longer to read than most books, but it was only because this book was so jammed packed with information. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I most certainly learned a whole lot from it. Malcolm Gladwell also has written: The Tipping Point, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures.

Danica Holdaway

His anecdotes just make so much sense and are so easy to read. I liked Outliers best, but this one is also awesome. :)

Blink The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

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