UPDATE: Malcolm Gladwell at Books, Inc.


Tipping Point and Blink author is charming, articulate and geeky-cute

I read Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell last year and enjoyed it very much, although I was left wanting more of a case study examination that related to marketing and business than to health care.

His new book is entitled Blink, and truthfully I only bought it yesterday and haven't read even one page.

Nonetheless, having read several reviews of the book I knew it would be a fascinating topic...that topic being instinct, snap judgments, gut reactions...when do they serve us, and when do they fail us.

Gladwell spoke for only about 30 minutes, telling some of the stories from his book. Then he took Q&A for about 45 minutes. He had mentioned in one story that when people are asked to make a judgment, or state a preference, and they don't really know what they think in the blink of an eye, then they tend to go for the familiar...and the conservative choice.

I did get to ask him a question, and I asked whether his research for this book (in particular that statement about going for the familiar and conservative) had given him any insight into the November election results. my friend, Elle, teased me for always having to bring politics into things, and unfortunately it seems that Gladwell is a Canadian and actually tries not to comment on American politics much.

He did tell the story of Warren G. Harding, our most handsome President, elected on the basis of such an attractive first impression...and a guy who ended up being dumb as a box of rocks and a terrible President. He said I could draw my own conclusions from that story, and as you can imagine...I certainly do.

There is a real air of idealism to Gladwell. He hopes that if we become aware of how unconscious biases and judgments affect serious decisions, we can take steps to eliminate the unconscious input. He used the example of putting screens up between those auditioning for the symphony and those judging. Seems when they could see the auditioners they unfailingly picked men. And thus started surmising that women didn't have the skills etc. Once screens went up, women caught up and even exceeded men in winning such auditions. Hmm. Why does this not surprise me?

As Gladwell said, it's something Harvard's president could certainly learn from.

I liked that Gladwell took no offense at someone stating that some folks think he merely "popularizes" existing concepts, or makes them more "accessible." He finds that complimentary, and I agree. That ranks him up there with Steven Hawking and Brian Greene and others who open up the eyes of average citizen to above-average thoughts. It's a worthy pursuit.

Here he is signing a book:



Seriously, even with his serious 'fro, his talk just might have made Gladwell my new brain crush.

Afterwards we headed to a great little Mexican dinner at Taqueria Los Charros, where geek talk, political talk and general mayhem ensued.

Great day in the Silicon Valley.
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UPDATE: I realized upon reading this that it sounds rather like Malcolm and I skipped off for a little dinner after his talk. While that would have been delightful and fascinating I'm sure, instead I merely went with a crew of eight other delightful, fascinating people.

Posted: Thu - January 20, 2005 at 02:56 PM       EmailFeedback

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