Blink

The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The landmark book that has revolutionized the way we understand leadership and decision making - from number-one best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.

In his landmark best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant, in the blink of an eye, that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work, in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing", filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology and displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

Don't miss any of Malcolm Gladwell's books, articles, and interviews.

©2005 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

2005 Quill Award Nominee

"Gladwell's groundbreaking explication of a key aspect of human nature is enlightening, provocative, and great fun to read." (Booklist)

"Entertaining and illuminating." (Publishers Weekly)

Great book overall. But tries to read too much into psychological studies.

I thought the book was very good overall. It provides some great insights on human behavior but it repeatedly over states how much we can know from psychological studies. It’s not that we cannot observe the phenomena but that he repeatedly gives a sure explanation for why things are the way they are and then proceeds to inform that society must be changed to follow this understanding.
Also, as a student of the art of war and someone who served with Marines he mentioned, I felt he didn’t accurately capture the nature of decision making. The process of a decision cycle is important to the problem and not merely a flash of insight.

Compare with Predictably Irrational

I made the mistake of reading Predictably Irrational at the same time as I was reading Blink. This is a problem because although both books are great, they advance virtual opposite concepts and both have solid research and sociological/statistical evidence to support their conclusions.
I often make Blink decisions – like the man I married, but then sometimes I spend extensive time researching. According to Blink, that extensive research may result in the wrong decision, but according to predictably irrational, people often compare apples with apples, or so we think and come out with a conclusion that isn’t logical.
For example, we purchased 3 properties – 2 rentals and one residence. They are each in a distinct economic sector of the US. One of the rentals was the price of a car, the other, a small down home, and the third in a major metropolitan region. In each case, we pretty much matched the median price for that economic region, based on research about the local housing market, crime trends, flood zones, etc. However predictably irrational says that people tend to pay the same amount for each home regardless of what geographic region it is in and what the local market forces are. So, apparently, we dodged the bullet there, by doing extensive research.
However, Malcolm contends that people need to listen to their gut and feel a decision. I don’t know that he would argue that this is the only way to make a decision, so much as that we shouldn’t let extensive research and scientific study overwhelm or silence our own intuitive sense of what we know.
So, the challenge becomes how to blend the two remarkable and contradictory books into a guideline for effective decision making. Regardless of where you come out, I do recommend reading them both in a relatively short time frame, so you can compare the concepts side by side. Fascinating and intriguing ideas in both, doubly so when read together.

Makes for great discussion on a long road trip

My husband and I listened to this on a long drive and we kept pausing it to talk about the different studies Gladwell cites. We still make references to it in conversation. Great book.

A must for those that have to make snap decisions

Insightful on the unconscious decisions we all make. If you are in the line of work where you have to make quick decisions about other people this book is for you.

Why your gut wants you to read this book...

If you could sum up Blink in three words, what would they be?

Practice Makes Perfect -- why experts are better and faster, even if they can't tell you why.

Any additional comments?

Loved this book except for the corny music in the background at the beginning/end of chapters and stories/intros.

A fantastic presentation.

I think I'm partially biased to narrators with deeper voices; however, it's more than just Mr. Gladwell's voice that totally captivates me. This was my first book by Malcolm Gladwell and it inspired me to also get Outliers, which I'm in the middle of.

Mr. Gladwell presents stories of events that support an idea, which challenges how we think about the world. It is this very thing that I find particularly interesting. While I'm not critiquing whether the idea presented is scientifically accurate, it has helped me to better understand the boundary between conscious and unconscious thought.

As a whole, I enjoy the idea presented in the way it is presented. I like the cadence of the written and spoken words, and Mr. Gladwell's voice is soothing to my ears. I also have a brain that can be described by statistics as occurring in less than 2% of the population, which I wasn't explicitly aware of when I first ear-read (listened to) Blink. Whether someone is looking for some good stories or some new ideas, I would absolutely recommend Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.

Gladwell never disappoints.

Love the synthesis of research and its application to how we make decisions. Very helpful information to our everyday life.

Another Gladwell Masterpiece

I have to say, focus is key to interpreting any of Malcolm's literature in the wholehearted beneficial context I vow he illustrates.
I bring great pleasure from reading novels of self improvement, the problem is I have been dubbed as bipolar most of my adulthood, and self improvement comes in whims between episodes of depression.
I have developed throughout the course of my life, an overwhelming desire to improve the emotional awareness of myself, to be very objective about my mental illness and it's implications.
In the "bipolar" diagnosis, depression is seen as one side of the coin, where mania is the other. Most are depressed most of the time, as I was, sometimes slipping too far into depression where it was debilitating and in a few cases - suicidal. As far as mania, the far end of that spectrum can creat delusions of grandeur almost comparable to schizophrenia.

My goal in the last 4 years has been to stay in a "swing" that I find most productive and gratifying. Somewhere between the neutral plane, just below delusion. in this manner I find that I have a beautiful mind, a beautiful life, one where I can and have pursued my dreams, but most importantly of all: get closer to who I really am and apply the wisdom to enhance everyones life in which I come in contact with.

Thank you to all the Malcolm Gladwell's, Josh Kauffman's, Daniel Goleman's, Paul Ekman's, Robert Kiyosaki's, Donald Trump's, and neverending list of forward thinking individuals who come to the realization that what they have in their mind is beautiful and must be shared, despite any and all controversy. It's people like you and I who will eventually create "The Tipping Point" that we are really excited to one day witness.

Interesting ideas about how we all think

The author was easy to listen to, and the book had some aha moments for me.

Fascinating insight into the power of first looks

Intriguing study into how we judge people/situations/things on our first impressions. Sometimes that is good and sometimes not so good. Gladwell shares in-depth stories that illustrate the point he makes throughout the book.