Gladwell's Blink Gives the Reader Plenty to Think About

"Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell is interesting and well written. I recommend "Blink" above "Tipping Point," also by Gladwell. The premise of "Blink" is how we make split-second decisions, and are these decisions as satisfying as researched and thought-out decisions.

Gladwell has a breezy writing style that makes even the most dry academic research interesting and a smooth read. "Blink" was a book that I kept finding myself refer to in conversations sharing bits and pieces with friends. Gladwell's idea to explore rapid cognition and discuss it in a slow, deliberate manner turned into a really interesting book. We make split-second decisions everyday in deciding whether we like someone, whether we want to buy a book, whether someone is a good professor and more. In that moment, our subconscious is assimilating all kinds of information, some that can be identified and some that may be so subtle that it can't be identified. However, the idea that the subconscious is running an in-depth analysis supports Gladwell's premise that rapid cognition can be improved.

"Blink" opens with an illustrative story about the Getty Museum preparing for a $10 million purchase of an ancient statue, the Kouros. A Kouros is a Greek statue of a nude man created before the fifth century, B.C. The museum had hired a stable of experts to research the documentation and study the statue. All of the experts verified the statue as authentic. Interestingly, a few other experts went to see the Kouros prior to the museum signing on the $10 million line. As in art tradition, the cloth was pulled from the statue and, quite literally, in the blink of an eye ancient art experts knew the statue was a forgery.

Of course, after more research following these experts' gut reaction it turns out the statue was a forgery and the museum was saved from a costly mistake. The book builds on this idea: How did the experts who made a decision in a moment come up with the right conclusion while the experts who dotted every "i" drew the wrong conclusion.

Gladwell has written a fun book with "Blink" because he draws upon this conundrum and weaves together interesting studies to examine that question. You need to respect the writing of someone who can take academic topics and make them a good read. Gladwell used the same approach with "Tipping Point," which was about what makes a trend. "Tipping Point" was good; however, the edge that "Blink" has over "Tipping Point" is that "Blink" keeps moving the reader forward with new information. About two-thirds of the way through "Tipping Point" the reader begins to feel that the theory is redundant. In "Blink" there is enough variety among the studies discussed that the reader does not feel the same thing is merely being written in different ways.

One very interesting discussion in "Blink" looked at research conducted to predict whether a couple would be married 10 years later. The researcher had learned to "slice" his subjects in a way to pick up on key traits to determine whether the couple was on their way to a long and happy life together or divorce court.

In the end, is it better to research our decisions or to go with our gut reaction? Gladwell draws a conclusion to this answer, based on the discussed research. The result was interesting and has stayed with me. The result also makes sense because it distinguishes between our conscious thought process and our subconscious. However, this review will not reveal Gladwell's conclusion. You are encouraged to track down a copy of "Blink" and find out for yourself.