Here is a title to make you stop and think. Based on an experiment where viewers of a video clip are asked to count the number of passes a three-a-side basketball team make, an astonishing 80% fail to see the gorilla-costumed intruder. This can be because we are too focussed - we don't see what we are not looking for. A `gorilla' is something so blindingly obvious that we fail to see it.
The book is deliberately aimed at the 55-minute audience, those short-haul train or plane travellers, and is expensive on a cost-per-page basis. However, the cost has to be offset against the value it gives to the professional and personal lives of readers. Make no mistake, there is a huge carry-over in applying lessons to business life and home - change your outlook in one and it will almost certainly affect the other.
The volume may be used as a corporate hand-out, and it uses psychological tricks and ploys, with anecdotes of where a `gorilla' has been found. Many readers could add their own examples, and that can work well in a group context.
A chatty style is not prescriptive, and there are 4 clear lessons to encourage gorilla spotting. One thing that I did find irritating was being asked to write answers in the book. Needless to say I did not do this - it ruins the volume for ever, and means that the pages cannot be revisited in the future. At any rate, not without purchasing an additional copy. The cynic may think that this is to encourage further sales.
Richard Wiseman has written a little gem that should make you stop and think. Perhaps the biggest key to spotting `gorillas' is to be aware that there are some out there. Go out and look for some. It could change your life.
Peter Morgan, Bath, UK ([...])
