Blink

Gladwell writes about subtle yet crucial behavioral phenomena with lucidity and contagious enthusiasm. His first book, The Tipping Point (2000), became a surprise best-seller. Here he brilliantly illuminates an aspect of our mental lives that we utterly rely on yet rarely analyze, namely our ability to make snap decisions or quick judgments. Adept at bridging the gap between everyday experience and cutting-edge science, Gladwell maps the « adaptive unconscious, » the facet of mind that enables us to determine things in the blink of an eye. He then cites many intriguing examples, such as art experts spontaneously recognizing forgeries; sports prodigies; and psychologist John Gottman’s uncanny ability to divine the future of marriages by watching videos of couples in conversation. Such feats are based on a form of rapid cognition called « thin-slicing, » during which our unconscious « draws conclusions based on very narrow ‘slices’ of experience. » But there is a « dark side of blink, » which Gladwell illuminates by analyzing the many ways in which our instincts can be thwarted, and by presenting fascinating, sometimes harrowing, accounts of skewed market research, surprising war-game results, and emergency-room diagnoses and police work gone tragically wrong. Unconscious knowledge is not the proverbial light bulb, he observes, but rather a flickering candle. Gladwell’s groundbreaking explication of a key aspect of human nature is enlightening, provocative, and great fun to read. Donna Seaman
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« Blink is…part mystery story, part cultural analysis, part managerial handbook, Blink aims to show us, above all, the power of snap judgements… » — -Toronto Star

« Gladwell has written a fun book with a provocative and not at all trivial premise. » — -Maclean’s

« Gladwell is not content with only explaining the world, he wants to change it. » — -The National Post