Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye [Paperback]

Michael R. LeGault (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 24, 2006

Outraged by the downward spiral of intellect and culture, Michael LeGault offers the flip side of Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling phenomenon, Blink, which theorized that our best decision-making is done on impulse, without factual knowledge or critical analysis. If bestselling books are advising us to not think, LeGault argues, it comes as no surprise that sharp, incisive reasoning has become a lost art in the daily life of people everywhere.

Somewhere along the line, the Age of Reason morphed into the Age of Emotion; this systemic erosion is costing time, money, jobs, and lives in the twenty-first century, leading to less fulfilment and growing dysfunction. LeGault provides a bold, controversial, and objective analysis of the causes and solutions for some of the biggest problems facing Western culture in the 21st century. From the over- load of reality TV shows and gossip magazines that have rendered curiosity of the mind and spirit obsolete to permissive parenting and low standards that have caused an academic crisis among our children, LeGault looks at all aspects of modern lives and points to how and where it all went wrong.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[For] those concerned about America losing touch with its intellectual traditions . . . Think! could not have emerged at a better time." -- The Washington Times

About the Author

Michael R. LeGault is an award-winning editor and writer, and a former columnist for the Washington Times. His reviews, opinion columns, and features have appeared in newspapers, journals, and magazines across North America. An American citizen based in Toronto, LeGault has worked for and been a consultant to major U.S. companies on health, safety, environmental, and quality issues. He received his B.S. from the University of Michigan and his M.S. from the University of Miami, Florida. LeGault is currently an editor at the National Post. He and his wife, Anneli, have two children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Threshold Editions; Threshold Editions Paperback Edition edition (October 24, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416531556
• ISBN-13: 978-1416531555
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael R. LeGault is a former Washington Times columnist, editor at the National Post, and an award-winning writer based in Toronto. He received a B.S. (Biology/chemistry) at the University of Michigan, and a M.S. degree (chemistry) from the University of Miami (FL). He has written widely on business, culture, technology and science-related topics for numerous newspapers and magazines such as the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Financial Post, The National Post, Masthead, The Detroit News and other publications. In 2002, Legault received the Canadian Business Press Award for best regularly featured column. His book Think! Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye, was published in January 2006. Think! is the first book of a new Simon & Schuster launch, Threshold Editions, headed by editor-in-chief Mary Matalin. Responding to enthusiastic media interest in the book, LeGault has given over 60 television and radio interviews, including interviews on CNN, ABC and FOX networks. LeGault is currently an independent consultant, writer and syndicated columnist; as well blogs at politicalmavens.com. An archived selection of his articles, reviews and columns can be found on his website, michaellegault.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 128 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Sides Of The Same Coin And A Good Book March 24, 2006

By Dave Lakhani VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Many of the reviewers here criticize this book because it isn't Blink (which by the way I think is an excellent book) but in my opinion, that is the wrong comparison. This is a book about critical thinking, Blink is a book about intuitive thinking.

The path to superior thinking is using both sides of the coin.

This book is a great look at critical thinking particularly as it relates to may of the not-thought-through group think decisions that many people make.

This is a great book for breaking down the critical thinking process and encouraging people to start thinking again in an age where many would have us not stop and question the avalanche of messages we get on a daily basis.

Read this book and Blink, you'll be a better thinker.

68 of 79 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Too long and sometimes inconsistent. March 6, 2006

By Luca Zullo

Format:Hardcover

The author has some good points but he drags on for way too long. The book could have been easily shorter as he often enters in long winded descriptions - borderline rants - which add nothing to the points already expoused. I haven't yet read Blink!, so I cannot tell on whether he's correct or not in his assessment of the book. I do however feel strongly that this book is not immune from the typical polarization of much discourse in the US today. I share his dislike for "political correctness" when it becomes a hamper to the free flow and discussion of ideas, nonetheless his cartoonish depiction of the liberal left is a poor service to the critical thinking he aims to promote. He fails his own litmus tests. A couple of examples. He's extremely critical of global warming and says that the majority of scientist is unconvinced or not against it. Actually the majority of relevant scientist world wide is convinced that man made global warming is real although they may still disagree on the overall impact and best mitigation -if any - policy. Also he uses rethorical arguments which are the negation of critical thinking. Again in the case of global warming he criticizes those who "believe that carbon dioxide (a non pollutant) causes global warming". This is intellectually dishonest as it is meant to instill in the reader the equivalence non-pollutant=harmless. In other term since co2 is a not a pollutant - which is true - it cannot cause anything as dangerous a global warming is supposed to be. Too bad that pollution potential and ability to reflect electromagnetic radiation - and therefore have the potential for global warming - are absolutely unrelated. He's disonest because if he belives that co2 does not cause global warming, should argue that and not using unrelevant rethoric to bias the readers in a desired direction. That is a cheap trick that doesn't belongs to a book on critical thinking and demeans the whole argument he set forth to promote.

The author says rightly that while we all have our own ideology and our bias, critical thinking should allow us to see behind it and avoid ideology to become a screen that obfuscates our interpreation of the world. Sadly, I feel that several times he fail to heed his own advice and in doing so he's doing a disservice to his own message and several nonetheless relevant points raised by the book. Eventually once again those - like me - who are disenfranchised with the monopoly of debate held by the liberal left and the conservative right, will find scant comfort in reading this book.

161 of 202 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Be Fooled January 5, 2006

By Sabre Rattler

Format:Hardcover

Despite the title and the packaging, this book has little to do with critical thinking or with Malcolm Gladwell's book, BLINK. Former Washington Times columnist Michael LeGault's THINK is a thinly veiled rehash of familiar neo-con rants about the decline of American culture. The old villain in Allan Bloom's THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND, relativism, is recast as impulse or emotion. Unfortunately, THINK really pales in contrast to Bloom's already deeply flawed book. In Bloom's CLOSING, there were at least conceivably real identifiable "villains" arguing for relativism. Here, you have the privilege of reading an entire book attacking non-existent "straw men." Ask yourself: who would actually suggest that we should make important decisions based solely on impulse or emotion?

Malcolm Gladwell? On the surface, he would appear to be the villain in the piece. But where in BLINK does Gladwell suggest anything like making decisions on impulse or emotion? Gladwell gives examples of where intuition seems to outperform the straight science (or where intuition can be effective and useful). But all the examples deal with professionals and experts, eg, art experts, firemen, policemen, doctors, etc. Their experience trains them to make fast decisions. This is not the same as making decisions based on impulse or emotion - not even close.

Experts can draw correct conclusions based on very small data sets. Look at Gladwell's discussion of the psychologist who was able to figure out which couples would eventually divorce by observing them for extremely short durations. Why? Well, a trained expert is able to recognize a significant pattern of behavior in that first minute or so. The expert can safely draw his conclusion based on a small sample b/c the rest of the data will likely be redundant. That is, the husband will be the same jerk at minute 30 as he was in minute 1. It's not that complicated.

LeGault takes a stand against irrational decision-making. Well, good for him, but who the hell takes a stand in favor of irrational choices? No one.

Really, his heroic stand is nothing more than his attempt to attribute reason and objectivity to his conservative agenda. And guess who gets to look nutty and irrational? Those wacky environmentalists, those leftist extremists (ala Noam Chomsky), etc. Our society is imperiled by emotional and impulsive liberals and environmentalists; our salvation is in the being objective and rational. And that surprisingly coincides with a conservative and libertarian agenda. Amazing.

Don't buy this book to look at where Gladwell's BLINK goes wrong. It's not a book about psychology or about critical reasoning. Read it if you want to jump back into the culture wars.