Blink by Malcolm Gladwell uses psychology, neuroscience, and storytelling to help the reader determine better decision making skills. Gladwell begins with an abundance of information and real-world examples of what he calls “rapid cognition” which is basically using your instinct to make decisions. He moves on to when this can go horribly wrong in decision making. Fortunately, he ends the book with when to use our instinct and when to spend more time thinking about a decision.
“We need to respect the fact that it is possible to know without knowing why we know and accept that – sometimes – we’re better off that way.”
In typical Gladwell fashion, he picks a subject that other authors overlook, digs deep with information, and tops it off with real-world examples to drive home the point. I enjoyed learning more about rapid cognition and agree with the author on how our thinking mind gets in the way of what our unconscious already knows. I was interested in his information on “unconscious bias” which is when we make have those knee-jerk reactions based on a deep rooted bias of some sort.
This book is hard to put down and as the reader you will walk away feeling more confident about making decisions.
Read this book if:
- You love Malcolm Gladwell books
- Interested in learning more about how decisions are made
- You want to gain confidence in yourself and your decision making abilities
- Professional in a field who helps others make decisions
Gladwell, M. (2007). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York: Back Bay Books.