2008-03-12

"Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking", by Malcolm Gladwell. (Time Warner Audio Books, 2005)

This is a good example of a book that worked better for me in audio. The author's reading made complex ideas that I might have skipped over in the text both understandable and interesting.

Gladwell examines several examples of situations where you "know" something instantly (in the blink of an eye) but can't explain how or why you know it. How a counselor knows whether a marriage is in trouble; how you know when someone is lying, or about to do you harm; who can, in a blind taste test, can tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke - and why; whether someone is management material. Based on work done by experts in various fields, he scrutinizes the way our brains use "thin slices" - almost subliminal clues - to make decisions and judgments, and why some are very good at it and others stumble.