Like Outliers, the actual thesis Gladwell is arguing for doesn't have to be remotely true for this book to be thoroughly enjoyable for the anecdotes alone & his storytelling genius. ( )

I thought this book was interesting but I was devoted to finishing it, I only read through specific sections. ( )

A quick read, well-researched but not too dense. Thought-provoking stuff, especially the chapter about implicit associations, discussed in the context of the Amadou Diallo shooting in New York. ( )

An excellent chapter on art and instincts, as well as a feature on professional "tasters" who describe the criteria for testing mayonnaise amongst other things.

A better title would be "thin slicing" as that's the way the subject was referred to time and again through the book. Really a collection of examples that try to illustrate the point. The first few did pretty well, then it seemed like "here's a neat story, let's see how we can get it to fit the topic." ( )

This book uses a lot of words to say very little. Basically, snap judgements and gut reactions are the result of very quick processing of information by our subconscious mind, and if we try to think hard about why we feel the way we do, we'll come up empty because that information isn't accessible by our conscious minds. So we should trust our intuition...except that we shouldn't, because our gut reaction can also reveal our inner racist and cause us to elect people like Warren Harding. So we shouldn't trust it...except that many major decisions can and should be made using a very small amount of information, because too much will hinder your decision-making process...but you can't know which information is critical without a lengthy and detailed study of all possible factors. So...trust your gut only if you're a highly trained expert and not under very much stress. I guess. I was tempted to put down this book several times, but the writing style is actually quite engaging, and I had faith that the author would somehow tie up all his suppositions into some kind of generalized theory. He doesn't. He shares a lot of marginally interesting anecdotes, but I was definitely unimpressed. So if you enjoy arbitrary and often conflicting psychological conclusions supported by loads and loads of case studies from a large variety of fields (from New Coke to marriage to police brutality), you will like this book. If you're looking for a cohesive explanation or even a concrete argument one way or another, you will be left wanting. ( )

I liked this book - it was very interesting. It didn't have the compelling fascination of Freakonomics for me -- it was somewhat of a struggle to sludge through every word. Gladwell seems to have a habit of repeating discoveries or theories a couple of times. I'm not sure if that's just his style, if he thinks the readers aren't bright enough to catch on to the first explanation, or if it was just to make the book longer.

If nothing else, this book made me feel smarter, and I have to thank Gladwell for breaking down scientific papers and studies into layman's terms (for the most part). ( )

It all starts out interestingly enough, but soon his argument about the power of the subconscious changes and you start to wonder what the author is actually trying to say, if anything at all. Essentially just a bunch of interesting titbits but no clear message or argument. I suspect the author knocked this book out, to catch on to the popularity of the Tipping Point. ( )

Very good ( )

The engaging writing style and gripping content of this book left me unable to put it down. ( )

Unputdownable. Great insights about the world and ourselves. Quick, short essays. ( )

I'd like it better if he wasn't quite so "loose" about making connections between things. It was good for the first third of the book but in the second third, I grew increasingly dissatisfied and I never read the last third. ( )

highly readable book about the power of the unconscious to make good decisions--sometimes better than the ones we plan carefully. but also about the potential for poor snap decisions...

This book is about the power of the first impression and of the unconscious. It is also about the dangers of relying on the first impression, discussing problems that can however often be avoided by training. The book is organized as a series of case studies, essentially brief New Yorker stories. They don't all fit the theme (the musician Kenna, a military exercise, heart-attack diagnosis in the ER), but many do, and the stories are all engaging.

First, Gladwell claims that in many cases all the information needed to make a decision is there in even very brief snippets. For example, it is easy to tell from a short, blurred clip of doctor-patient interaction which doctors will be sued. There is also some discussion of Ekman's facial action coding system, and of John Gottman's study of married couples to predict divorces.

The unconscious mind is often quite good at making fast decisions based only on brief impressions. Interestingly, this facility can be suppressed. For example, being forced to rationalize your impression makes your decisions worse, because you don't know why you like what you like. Only experts can articulate the reasons for their preferences. This effect is easily seen in taste tests. Also, when solving insight puzzles, speaking your reasoning aloud often actively prevents your brain from making the necessary insight (in contrast to problems that can be worked out systematically). Too much analysis paralyzes the subconscious.

However, there are also problems about acting based on a brief impression. An obvious problem is discrimination, which taints the subconscious of almost everyone. For example, people tend to have negative associations to blacks and positive associations to whites, even black people. This can be measured by timing classification tests. This effect is greatly reduced if you see a positive black role model just before taking the test, though. Thus your impressions can also be easily primed, subconsciously. A second problem, discussed in the context of police work and the Amadou Diallo case, is when stress narrows your brain's focus. Training can help overcome this, as can techniques to give a little more time and reduce the urgency.

Unfortunately, Gladwell is not entirely a trustworthy narrator. As a trivial example, at one point he talks about how a researcher collected 100,000 feet of film. How many Libraries of Congress is that? His judgement is also not trustworthy, as evidenced by the inclusion of only marginally related case studies. Still, it was an enjoyable book, easy to read, and I learned a few things about how I make decisions. ( )

I am a little late to the game when it comes to reading some of Malcolm Gladwell's books. Last week, while on vacation with the family, I managed to read Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

The book is about rapid cognition, the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. What is going on inside our heads when during rapid cognition? When are these quick judgments good and when are they not? What kinds of things can we do to make our powers of rapid cognition better?

The book left me with a bunch of little tidbits of information. Gladwell illustrates each of his points with interesting narratives. In the process he makes several insightful points about the nature of rapid human decision-making. Sometimes, over-thinking a problem results in bad decisions. Our first instincts are often correct, if we have a clear picture of what is happening and our perception.

But often that clarity is missing. One example is the difference in selecting elite musicians when the audition is conducted behind a screen, rather than in full view. In the past thirty years since screened auditions have become commonplace, the number of females in the top U.S. orchestras has increased five-fold. Even though the judges were not overtly discriminatory, their first impressions from seeing a woman, the color of her instrument and the way she played had an unconscious negative effect on the judges.

There are lessons in this book for compliance professionals.

Snap judgments are often correct when they come from clarity and experience. But they can also easily be corrupted. Be aware of the situation, the person you are dealing with and the environment around you.

Experience is clearly the most important factor in developing a strong snap judgment and practice is key in developing that expertise. ( )

The book left me with a bunch of little tidbits of information that I wanted to share with everyone. And a bit of concern over how easily our perceptions can be influenced (i.e. reading a list of negative words, or papers that have negative words in them will make the reader feel and behave negatively.)

Of course, the opposite is true: thinking positively will make one behave more positively, and affect others around, making them also behave more positively.

All in all, a very enlightening read, though some parts (the Statue and the Kenna stories, for example) went on too long. ( )

I'm glad to have read another book by Malcolm Gladwell. Very much recommended. In Blink he researches snap judgments, or thin-slicing, and gives some powerful examples of how sometimes the best and deepest rationalized explanations loose out to the spontaneous judgment calls. Now one thing you shouldn't do with this book, is judge this book by its cover. I suggest you delve deep into it and let yourself be inspired by the many stories Gladwell weaves together. ( )

The human mind is hardwired for split-second decision-making. This “rapid-cognition” allows humans to act with limited information and time – almost as if by intuition. Gladwell explores the power of rapid-cognition, both its potential to serve us well (e.g. doctors and speed daters) and mislead us (e.g. racial biases and police shootings). Well-written and full of psychological insight, Gladwell’s work asks its reader to take seriously the power of rapid-cognition. A- ( )

I enjoyed it very much, Gladwell illustrates each point with interesting narratives, and makes several insightful points about the nature of humanity.

He begins with the example of a museum examining a supposed ancient greek statue. Several experts realize instantly at the reveal that its a forgery. How were they able to know without careful study? Gladwell posits that there's something more going on beneath the surface of our brains that instinctively catches the smallest details.

Gladwell continues by examining the tragic case of four police officers gunning down an innocent man, and explains their actions in terms of biology.

From there he goes on to explore decision making processes, and how too much information can be paralyzing and result in slow, dumb decisions, then he explores the human face and what we communicate to others. Perhaps the most remarkable bit of information he brings out is that our faces don't just reveal what we're thinking, but can also change our state of mind if we make the faces associated with the emotion.

All in all, Gladwell has written a book that is keenly insightful into human nature. ( )

Explores those split-second decisions our unconscious makes and how one can educate oneself to be aware of and use those instincts, and when to be wary (such as when unconscious prejudices are influencing us) of them. Blink includes many fascinating studies: using "thin-slicing" - short clips, just seconds, of video - to predict survival rates of marriages and whether or not a doctor is likely to be sued for malpractice. Blink also discusses how food packaging affects consumer purchasing, the science of reading facial expressions and what happens when we either can't or don't read those expressions correctly.

Fascinating and written in a very accessible way - Gladwell makes it easy for the reader to understand some surprisingly complex ideas. Definitely recommended ( )

Ever met someone for the first time and hated them instantly? If you thought there was ‘something’ about that person that made you hate them, you are right but try analyzing what and your mind draws a blank. When people try to explain why they thought, what they thought most of us fail to give plausible answers. Here’s where ‘Blink’ comes in. Blink is all about the amazingly accurate split-second decisions we make when we see something for the first time, due to the power of our subconscious mind.

The author (Malcolm Gladwell) discusses a very important concept-Thin slicing. It essentially refers to how we make shockingly accurate judgments on people and things we see for the ‘first time’. Most of us attribute that feeling to a gut feel but there is more to it than that. What happens as explained in the book is that, the brain sifts through a lot of our mind’s historical data to give us an accurate estimate (or a thin slice) which we refer to as our gut feeling.

Mind reading is another important concept that’s touched upon. Several incidents are discussed where critical judgments were made erroneously because the people involved did not accurately mind read. The example used for illustration is ironic considering the same erroneous judgment was repeated this year in England, when a bunch of policemen misunderstood the intentions of an innocent man and shot him in the subway.

The author explains that although eyes are the windows to our soul, it’s the facial expressions that are the master key to our internal feelings. Expressions that flit across our faces in micro seconds hold more information than any amount of studies that may analyze that person over days. Here I am reminded of a friend of mine who is an exception to this rule. She was a truly lucky girl considering that no one could mind read her because her face was ‘always’ blank, no matter what myriad emotions she experienced.

The book then proceeds to discuss a whole bunch of other concepts and experiments which are then rationally explained. The important experiments analyzed are the Coke-Pepsi blind test, the Warren Harding error (or the error of judging people based only on their good looks), Paul Van Ripper’s big victory etc. The author discusses his observations from topics as varied as speed dating, military battles, heart attack response analysis, car sales and celebrity singers.

Other things discussed are marriage signatures, consumer choices and the pitfalls of pre-conceived/stereotypical notions. Our minds unconsciously levitate towards certain stereotypical notions and although we can ‘mind train’ ourselves it’s quite difficult. The theories discussed are the syndrome of tall people achieving more success, men being considered more superior to women work-wise etc.

Blink is an intensive study of the psychology of the human mind. In ‘Blink’, the author has attempted to explain in simple language, several new concepts that unravel the secrets of our thinking. The material that he has presented is neither breakthrough nor earth shattering but by making these things familiar to the common man in interesting layman language, he’s served a coup’degrace. The author presents all the concepts in such an interesting manner that even though he sounds confused throughout the book, you’ll still like what you are reading.

If nothing this book can guarantee you that the next time you are at a party and are short of some attention-grabbing conversation starters you could recall and discuss plenty of ideas that you have picked from ‘Blink’. ( )

Malcolm Gladwell has an ability to make almost any subject fascinating. He manages to bring a new perspective to things we take for granted every day or things we never even noticed. It grabbed me right from the beginning and never let go.

I particularly enjoyed the scientist who could examine facial expressions of married couples and predict (fairly accurately) if they would still be married years later. ( )

Always being one who enjoyed psychology, I loved this eye-opening book that explores one of the miraculous workings of the human mind. Investigating the inner workings of first impressions, body language, quick decisions, and even autism, readers will never look at other people the same way again. ( )

I found this one much more interesting than "The Tipping Point." ( )