Blink

Blink (Malcom Gladwell)

When it comes to something like dating, we all readily admit to the importance of what happens in the first instant when two people meet. But we won't admit to the importance of what happens in the first two seconds when we talk about what happens when someone encounters a new idea, or when we interview someone for a job, or when a military general has to make a decision in the heat of battle.


With the "Tipping Point" - Malcom Gladwell had taken research findings and sociological theories & applied them to the problems like these and much more (of business and origin as well).

With 'Blink', Gladwell takes the discourse much further. According to researchers, emotions are closely tied to facial muscles and how we use them. So, if one is really clued in - a superior ability to communicate can become the key to phenomenal success. To refine our social - intuition in personal and public situations, to be able to read people's expressions correctly & to interpret what we thus learn is the burden on Blink

As we go about spending any regular day in our supposedly busy lives, on many instants there is this lightning reflex that pushes us to ignore the facts staring at us in the face; And we end up doing totally contrary to what Common Sense dictates.


Malcolm Gladwell in his book essentially elaborates at length about the benefits of mastering the art of Quick Decision making. He acknowledges the power of the unconscious - which he says plays a crucial rle in the whole process of those Split-second decisions.

His treatment of the mysterious andpowerful human reactoins to the world around - in Speed Dating, Marriage, Codebreaking during World War II, on why we like Harry Potter so much or how do we know we are being fled - induce a new respect in the reader for the incredible Human Psyche. Its the Gladwell's anecdotes and examples (right from personal ones the ones he saw hapening in his close proximity) that make the book a splendid experience to read.

He illustrates the principle of Thin Slicing - to reinforce the belief that great decision makers are not those who possess humongous knowledge or were prodigies; but those who focus on knowing the vey FEW things that actually matter ('Slicing')..!

Likewise 'BLINK' excavates the dual process of revulsion and attraction ('Black or White'); how we react in moments of crisis; how brain somehow works out the best solution in the shortest possible time when Human mind is under tremendous stress and in the precarious state of high arousal.

The most impressive thing about the book is the way it is concerned with the smallest components of our everyday lives--with the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that bubble up whenever we meet a new person, or confront a complex situation, or have to make a decision under conditions of stress.

All in all, it is a book that seeks to explain US to ourselves ;)

I feel that if one can master the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye - one can achieve all round success on a continual basis for sure. Do you have a similar opinion?