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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking | 
 enlarge | Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.99
Buy New: $6.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  933 reviews
Sales Rank: 138
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0316010669
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.44
EAN: 9780316010665
ASIN: 0316010669
Publication Date: April 3, 2007
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff
Product Description
Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making.In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like.--Barbara Mackoff
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| Customer Reviews: Read 928 more reviews...
 Hyped book that ends up about nothing. July 25, 2008
This book is full of promise and full of interesting stories. But ultimately, it doesn't even end up proving or disproving any of the ideas on its jacket.
Some people are good at trusting their instincts, and they end up right. Others are bad at trusting them. Other people's instincts themselves are untrustworthy. Other people don't trust their instincts. Some are right, some are wrong.
It's the equivalent of snob candy--it feels like an intellectual book, but it really doesn't say much of anything. It just makes you feel smart for a few minutes, if that.
I'd put money that no one will be talking about this book in two years. It's just the flavor of (last) month.
 A Bit Long-Winded, But Worth It July 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Blink has changed the way I think about decision-making. From an early age we are discouraged from making "snap" decisions, we are not taught to develop our natural instincts. While some snap decisions can be mistakes, if we tune up our "gut" feelings, it may be possible to make excellent decisions based on limited information and time constraints. Gladwell calls this "thin-slicing" and make no mistake about it - it is a SKILL that must be cultivated.
In a nutshell, thin-slicing is defined as "the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviors based on very narrow slices of experience." The most fascinating part to me is just that - as a human being, we do have this capability. If you're like me, you do a significant amount of second-guessing, and that is where the trouble starts. We have the instincts inside of us, our brains are powerful tools - more powerful than the most sophisticated computer, they tell us, right? So why do we not trust ourselves?
To be honest, the book started out great with some fascinating examples of thin-slicing and adaptive unconscious (the part of the brain that leaps to conclusions and is capable of making very quick decisions based on very little information). Towards the end I felt like it was just the same information over and over again. I got the gist of it all in the first couple of chapters. Many reviewers here indicated that it could have been an article instead of a book, but I understand why it is a book: Books are taken seriously, are reviewed, are cited, and are easy to find after publication.
Blink is worth the read, even if you only skim a few parts, if only to get you thinking differently about the way we make decisions.
 agree with the reviewer who said this book was "mediocre" July 22, 2008
Like the reviewer who posted just before me, I also thought the book could have made an excellent article. You can certainly skip around in this book and get the point of it. I forced myself to read the whole book even though I lost interest maybe halfway or 2/3 of the way through because the author seemed to be just supporting his main idea with more and more examples. I thought I should force myself to read the whole book in case I missed some amazing new insights, but there was nothing new in it. I enjoyed the examples though, which is why I give this book 3 stars. All in all it was truly mediocre at best.
Mediocre at best July 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Gladwell is a writer for the New Yorker so it's not surprising that this entire book could have been summed up in an article. Gladwell basically says we should follow our instinct and concludes at the end that we shouldn't be judgemental at the same time. Wow, what insight! He gives some interesting examples which are what I enjoyed. It's a quick read though so you won't waste too much time even though the book is a little drawn out.
 not happey July 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
one of he cd ()no 2
was dameged and in no shape for playing
its ashame i am not pleased at all
DR mishali moshe
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