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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
 
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Hardcover)

by Malcolm Gladwell (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 37.95
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking + The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference + Outliers: The Story of Success
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Best-selling author Gladwell (The Tipping Point) has a dazzling ability to find commonality in disparate fields of study. As he displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look at how we make snap judgments—about people's intentions, the authenticity of a work of art, even military strategy—he can parse for general readers the intricacies of fascinating but little-known fields like professional food tasting (why does Coke taste different from Pepsi?). Gladwell's conclusion, after studying how people make instant decisions in a wide range of fields from psychology to police work, is that we can make better instant judgments by training our mind and senses to focus on the most relevant facts—and that less input (as long as it's the right input) is better than more. Perhaps the most stunning example he gives of this counterintuitive truth is the most expensive war game ever conducted by the Pentagon, in which a wily marine officer, playing "a rogue military commander" in the Persian Gulf and unencumbered by hierarchy, bureaucracy and too much technology, humiliated American forces whose chiefs were bogged down in matrixes, systems for decision making and information overload. But if one sets aside Gladwell's dazzle, some questions and apparent inconsistencies emerge. If doctors are given an algorithm, or formula, in which only four facts are needed to determine if a patient is having a heart attack, is that really educating the doctor's decision-making ability—or is it taking the decision out of the doctor's hands altogether and handing it over to the algorithm? Still, each case study is satisfying, and Gladwell imparts his own evident pleasure in delving into a wide range of fields and seeking an underlying truth.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile

Have you ever wondered why love at first sight, so seemingly ill-advised, sometimes works out for the long-term? Malcolm Gladwell may have the answer. In BLINK, Gladwell asserts that snap judgments can quite often be as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately. Using a wide variety of examples--an ex-Marine's victory in a war-game simulation, a museum's purchase of a bogus statue, an emergency room's method for diagnosing heart attacks--Gladwell asks us to step back from overly analytical decision-making and trust our instincts and experience. Like his previous work, THE TIPPING POINT, BLINK is a thought-provoking, category-defying book. The audio is read by the author with care and conviction. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
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Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking 4.4 out of 5 stars (35)
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CDN$ 10.00
Outliers: The Story of Success
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Freakonomics
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Customer Reviews

35 Reviews
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 (22)
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 (7)
3 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (35 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Informed Intuition Beats Analysis and Knee-Jerk Prejudices, Jul 15 2006
This review is from: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Paperback)
Like The Tipping Point, Blink has a very simple point which it elaborates from a variety of perspectives. In this case, the point is that our subconscious mind can integrate small, subtle clues to very quickly make great decisions . . . as long as we have been trained to know what clues to focus on.

In developing that simple idea, Mr. Gladwell makes the case for "going with your gut" in many instances . . . especially when time is of the essence (such as during emergencies and in combat). He also rescues analysis to show how analysis can train people to know what to look for so they can use their instincts more effectively.

But instincts have a downside. Based on conditioning, we make associations that are harmful to ourselves and to others. He recounts how an innocent man became a victim of under trained, over stimulated police officers and how even African-Americans display prejudice against African-Americans.

Most of the book is devoted to looking at prejudice and how to overcome it. For those who are interested in that subject, this book will be much more interesting than for those who want to understand how to improve their decision-making.

I thought that the book failed to reach the average mark as a book about how to improve decision-making. There's no real guidance for what we can each do to improve our important decisions. We are just left with hope that we can do better. I graded the book up a bit because I liked the insights into racism.

I thought the material on branded products was much too long and didn't add anything to what I knew already.

Mr. Gladwell writes well, though, so it's mostly a pleasant trip in the book. He makes science more interesting, but leaves a bit too much of the science out to make the results satisfying. He's writing for a dumbed-down audience with science backgrounds at the 8th grade level.

The book's opening made me feel like I was really going to learn something. As the book continued, I found myself disappointed compared to the high expectations that the opening set for learning better decision-making practices. As a result, all I got from the book was to pay attention to external clues and my own physiological cues as I react to a situation. I already do that, so I felt that the book didn't really deliver a solid benefit to me beyond teaching me a few new stories about decision makers.
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read... until the ending doesn't materialize, Jun 23 2005
By A Customer
Extremely interesting book with insightful theories on why and how we make decisions. Unfortunately, you don't find out until the disappointing end that the "chapters" were independent essays. As with most books, I looked forward to finding out how the author will wrap everything up and tie the stories together in the end. Apparently, Gladwell either didn't feel it was necessary, or ran out of steam. The ending was so abrupt that I found myself frantically scanning the notes at the end for some sort of closure (to no avail). That said... I do think this book is worth reading. Just read it as if it was a group of short stories, so you won't be disappointed.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not the best coverage of an interesting topic, Mar 20 2006
By Ruth (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Malcolm Gladwell takes a "gee wiz" approach to the topic of split-second decision making, tossing around research without discrimination or critical analysis, and not following through on the implications of what he's saying.

For example, he starts with an example of an art forgery that the scientific tests missed while several art experts could tell "in a blink" that there was something fishy. Interesting anecdote and let's assume that it's true. Would any one of those art experts advise that scientific testing should no longer be used to detect forgeries? Of course not. Would any of them be able to detect forgeries on a consistent basis by gut reaction? No. Gladwell reads way too much into the anecdote. He also doesn't seem to get the fact that most of his examples of split-second decision making are done by people who are highly trained in the subject. A closer analogy might be learning to play the piano.

A much, much better take on this material (also a more engaging read) is Jay Ingram's "Theatre of the Mind: Raising the Curtain on Consciousness."

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Deal
The book as claimed was new. The price was amazing. The only thing was that the white cover was a bit dirty. Read more
Published 1 month ago by M. Shahi

2.0 out of 5 stars Blink, blink, blink AD NAUSEUM
Although the author offers an interesting approach toward making decisions, his continuing use of the same stories over and over again to illustrate his points drove me bonkers... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Gwen Hawkins

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and enlightening
Perhaps I was expecting too much after the rave reviews but I was left hoping to have had a better conclusion or wrap-up to all the interesting information that Gladwell... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Grover Vee

5.0 out of 5 stars page turner
This was a facinating read. This book was a required read for one of my upcoming yoga teacher trainning courses... I must admit that I wondered why at first.....Now I know. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Muguette A. Laflamme

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully nuanced examination of rapid cognition
A brilliant book filled with countless research studies made accessible and fascinating. Gladwell is a really wonderful writer and gifted in his ability to communicate complex... Read more
Published 10 months ago by J. Pollock

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as the Hype
This book says that sometimes people make good decisions, sometimes bad upon first impression. It gives examples. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jean Pojin

4.0 out of 5 stars well written and interesting
I thought that Blink is a very good book, because it makes a simple and interesting point about split-second decisions, and then it blends in appropriate examples and anecdotes... Read more
Published 11 months ago by sean macdonald

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal book
I highly recommend this book. While the topic is quite scientific, the author
has been able to engage the reader easily with compelling, memorable stories. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Selective Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful Read
With roughly 260 pages and seven chapters (including the conclusion), "Blink" is a well-written and insightful book on the subject of accurate "snap judgment" or two-second of... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Zadius Sky

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing
Another great book by Gladwell. The best part is that he explains why gut feelings may not be correct. Many people go to the bank with gut feelings and lose. Read more
Published 21 months ago by John Pearce

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