Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Paperback – April 3, 2007

A terrible collection of cherry picked anecdotes and conflicting data

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Amazon Customer

April 7, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A terrible collection of cherry picked anecdotes and conflicting data, all carefully laid out to appeal to the instant gratification of the human ego.

Gladwell had made a chunk of change telling us we can "blink" and know the truest of truths... that our guts are inherently correct (well, except the many times he points out how incorrect they are, due to racism (except when he back pedals and says maybe the people in that example aren't racist, actually), sexism (except when he says it's possible sexism was not, in fact, a factor in such and such examples), and other biases (which the book both promises to teach us to control and says we have *no ability* to control), and that by "thin-slicing" (making use of the "adaptive unconscious" of our mind, which, incidentally, he says repeatedly can never be unlocked) we can be better people, fight wars "better", and solve the problems of the world.

It's a book for the casual reader, so the stories he uses to back up his arguments are often terribly irresponsible anecdotes. The studies he references are rarely detailed sufficiently so that the reader could know whether they'd had any controls, had been repeated and peer reviewed, etc. They're riddled with opinion and assumptions about results, and we're left to assume the lens from which he makes these statements is pure and holy.

The best take away from this self help quickie is that some people will, as a result of spending a dozen or so hours reading it and thinking about their minds and how they work, will be, going forward, more introspective, which is not a bad thing. The worst take away is that some (and I fear most) people will glean only the basest concept from his promises: that their guts are always right, leaving them less introspective and more irrationally bold and self-satisfied.

11 people found this helpful

Thought provoking, revolutionary insights...difficult to utilize

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Larry Gross

July 11, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is an incredible tour de force with detailed research and eye-opening, and often disheartening insights into our flawed personal decision making processes. If read rightly, I believe this will thrust you into a new way of thinking and cause you to strive to develop ways to overcome unintentional biases and even hope to improve when you "trust your gut." Read wrongly, it will either cause frustration and hopelessness or anger and resentment. Gladwell does not give a prescription here. He doesn't provide a blueprint or a roadmap. He educates and leaves it to us to see where in our day to day we might be mind blind or are relying too heavily on data rather than instinct (or vice versa). It is truly up to us to take this information and use it as a lens to examine our own thinking and search to improve how we take what we see and use it to make better choices.

11 people found this helpful

Wow! Just Wow! Engaging Read You Won't Want to Put Down!

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becky6703

October 14, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is a read for an Ethics and the Media class. Mind-blowing! Truly a fantastic read and I feel like I learned a lot about how different types of thinking give us better results in different scenarios. The stories within are fascinating and the entire class raved about our favoritess and how incredible the processes worked. Really makes you look at the world differently, and it a good way. A classmate had read another Gladwell title - I am excited to find that this author has more to read - I will definitely be checking out his other titles! I have loaned my copy to several friends who have all been just as impressed. Fantastic read for sure!

10 people found this helpful

Worse, these experts should have at least eventually been ...

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Walter K.

June 24, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Intuition is a valuable tool, for certain, but intuition is informed by by the information and experience in your brain. Art experts and historians, to use the first chapter as an example, might have correctly noticed something was off about the statue, but they could only do this because of their years of study. It would have been worthless to lean on the intuition of a group of non-experts to determine if the Kouros statue was a fake. Worse, these experts should have at least eventually been able to articulate how they came to their conclusions. Relying solely on intuition can only get you about halfway to any conclusion.

Worse yet, if you don't understand the nature of your intuition, you will fail to predict instances where it is wholly incorrect and uninformed.

I regret buying the pop science novella, and the only silver lining here is that people who are foolish enough to believe that Blink can revolutionize how they think are probably too unintelligent to rely on anything other than intuition.

10 people found this helpful

Malcolm Gladwell is a phenomenal author who can easily captive your attention with his easy-to-understand message and descriptive examples.

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Excelente!