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A review by dullshimmer
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
4.0
Blink is one of those books that is both fascinating, but is hard to pull any hard takeaways out of. Blink is about our ability and inability to make decisions in the blink of an eye. That may seem a bit contradictory, and in some ways it kind of highlights the difficulty of what to take from the book.
Malcolm Gladwell looks at a variety of stories and situations where people were able to make split judgements that were either as accurate or more accurate than people who spent time researching and trying gaining more information.
One example is a statue that the Getty museum was attempting to purchase. They had researched the statue and thought it was authentic, but when certain experts saw the statue their initial reaction was that something was off. It turns out that these experts were right. Their split second reaction was successful where the Getty's research had failed. Gladwell's book is about talking about this phenomenon.
However, it's not quite as simple as trusting gut instinct. He also talks about times where split second decisions were definitely not correct. So Gladwell weaves stories and research in a way that is interesting and entertaining, but doesn't fully make you feel like you've grasped exactly what makes one able to make accurate decisions in a short time period.
In part there does seem to be a need for expertise and training in whatever area you're going to need to make quick decisions. It reminds me of the anecdote about detecting counterfeit money that you don't spend time studying the fake, you spend time studying real money and that makes it easier to detect when something is off when you get a fake bill. This is the kind thing that allows us to make these kind of accurate snap judgments. Except when it doesn't for various reasons like personal bias, cultural viewpoints and things like that when even our subconscious views can cause our snap decisions to be skewed.
I don't feel like I'm doing a particularly good job at explaining this book, but I did enjoy it. It is interesting and filled with stories that make you think and was a very engaging read. This is the kind of book you read not to gain mastery of a subject, but to be introduced to a new subject and seek more out. It's certainly not the end of the topic, but just an introduction.
Malcolm Gladwell looks at a variety of stories and situations where people were able to make split judgements that were either as accurate or more accurate than people who spent time researching and trying gaining more information.
One example is a statue that the Getty museum was attempting to purchase. They had researched the statue and thought it was authentic, but when certain experts saw the statue their initial reaction was that something was off. It turns out that these experts were right. Their split second reaction was successful where the Getty's research had failed. Gladwell's book is about talking about this phenomenon.
However, it's not quite as simple as trusting gut instinct. He also talks about times where split second decisions were definitely not correct. So Gladwell weaves stories and research in a way that is interesting and entertaining, but doesn't fully make you feel like you've grasped exactly what makes one able to make accurate decisions in a short time period.
In part there does seem to be a need for expertise and training in whatever area you're going to need to make quick decisions. It reminds me of the anecdote about detecting counterfeit money that you don't spend time studying the fake, you spend time studying real money and that makes it easier to detect when something is off when you get a fake bill. This is the kind thing that allows us to make these kind of accurate snap judgments. Except when it doesn't for various reasons like personal bias, cultural viewpoints and things like that when even our subconscious views can cause our snap decisions to be skewed.
I don't feel like I'm doing a particularly good job at explaining this book, but I did enjoy it. It is interesting and filled with stories that make you think and was a very engaging read. This is the kind of book you read not to gain mastery of a subject, but to be introduced to a new subject and seek more out. It's certainly not the end of the topic, but just an introduction.