Blink

Very perceptive book and a good sequel to Tipping Point. I am currently on my second way through it and enjoy the open approach that has been taken.

If you happened to like any of Malcolm Gladwell's books, you will surely like this one. For me , it is even better than the previous ones. I think negative reviews might have been influenced by exceedingly high expectations.

Excellent and inspiring book - of the matter of intuition as well as actual issues concerning us all - such as police shootings or effective markting of products.
A minor but unusual and very nice detail: this audiobook is actually modified slightly from the written edition, so it consistently makes sense to a listener as oposed to a reader.

This is the third Malcolm Gladwell book I have listened to (or read), and like the other two, it is really interesting, but just a little bit unconvincing in parts. He is a brilliant storyteller, drawing you in with interesting anecdotes about a man who can pick winning horses by observing their body language and a rogue soldier who outwits the entire US army in a war game scenario. But towards the end of the book his argument loses its way.

As the book progresses he gradually builds a convincing theory about how our minds are adept at making accurate instantaneous judgements and how, in many cases, the more information we are given the less likely we are to judge well.

But then he starts to make some slightly dubious claims and even to contradict himself somewhat. He tells the story of 4 policemen who kill an African American in a bad neighbourhood at night because they think he has a gun. He says that the stress of the situation gives them ‘temporary autism’ which robs them of their normal powers to make ‘blink’ judgements. But you just don’t need this theory to explain why they misjudged the situation. It was dark, and the inability of the men to detect the innocence and terror on the victim’s face could be explained by this alone.

Later on he describes another policeman, who had received training in controlling this kind of panic reaction in dangerous and stressful situations, and because of this training, when faced with an armed youngster, he waited a little longer and gathered more information and decided not to shoot. But this contradicts the main idea of the book, which is that we make better decisions when we allow our intuition to do it in a blink.

So, by the end of the book, you have been entertained and have also been persuaded that humans often make better judgements when they ‘thin slice’, i.e. they make quick unconscious decisions based on very limited information. But, in my opinion, he tries to over-elaborate his theory in the later chapters, and I felt myself disagreeing with him, which spoilt the book a bit.

I loved how Gladwell explains how much information we can gather in a blink of an eye. He goes on to show his findings through research and stories.

I feel wiser and love re-quoting the stories to other people.

Great audio - and well read.

Good book, gives you insight into how the subconscious works.

The war game of 2002 scenario was interesting.

Great to hear the author in an audiobook.

This text should be on the university reading lists in all faculties. Its applications and insights are without borders.

Yes, the fact that it is author read gives it a feel of authenticity. I don't have to judge emphasis or pronunciation (not a native English speaker)

The book confronts one with everyday realities which is presented from a new perspective.

He does himself rather convincingly :-)

It held my attention, but not to the point where I could not pause. I liked it - binding enough to hold me yet autonomous enough in its coherence that the interruptions inevitable in my life did not significantly detract from the value even though I can only listen for ~40 minutes at a time

Outliers spoiled it for us as this is somewhat less wow but by any other standard it is great. Sometimes I got the feeling the point was belabored as it was already stated yet only paraphrased later, but there were also times when the extra angle added more insight.
All n all a valuable listen!

Absolutely. It's great to re-read/listen to good books to refresh your memory.

Malcolm Gladwell thoroughly covers the material and his narration is just perfect.

Malcolm Gladwell!

I loved the section on body language and Paul Eckman's work.

As always, Malcolm Gladwell entertains and inspires! The world would not be the same without him.

Yes! Great performance by Malcolm, excellently read and a different and intriguing concept

Chapters 5 & 6 stood out for me and really tied the book together with great studies on Coca cola, Pepsi, The Amadou Diallo shooting and musician 'Kenna'

The case study of Amadou Diallo was excellent.

Not a Life changer but a solid concept and idea that does help you consciously change your bad thinking habits.. Recommended but not a MUST HAVE for me.