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| Blink | | Date Created: Aug 31, 2005, 09:30 PM |
 Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell is a bestseller. Gladwell's previous book, The Tipping Point, was also well received.
It's important to note that I listened to this book (the unabridged audio version from Audible.com) rather than read it. I'm not sure this makes a difference but it does make it harder to go back and review it.
There are certainly differences, but the main thing that struck me was how much Blink reminded me of Freakonomics. I've already reviewed that one. Steven Levitt, the iconoclastic economist of Freakonomics looks to be a similar age to Gladwell and uses a similar approach in economic analysis. Gladwell deals in psychology rather than economics. Perhaps because I know psychology better than economics, it's easier to criticize the pop psychology of Blink than it is to find fault in Freakonomics. OTOH, Gladwell does make an attempt to ground his analysis of perceptions, experience, and subconscious responses to some real science, behavior, and behavior modification in real life.
Using real-life stories we've all heard about in the news, Gladwell, like Levitt, explains them in relation to his thesis of how people react to very important or stressful situations over very short time periods -- the proverbial blink of an eye. His analyis resonates with my own experience in medical training and stressful situations such as big-time trauma surgery. Of course, experiential psychology is far from scientifically rigorous but it seems Gladwell is onto something, and to his credit, he doesn't get too carried away and points to directions for further study and utility to his thesis.
This book deserves the attention it's getting. I'll have to go back and read The Tipping Point. Meanwhile you could do worse than to listen to Blink on audio on a 6-7 hour car trip. |
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