Comment

Blink

the Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Jun 02, 2018
Blink is an extraordinary book that deals with the millisecond between you first seeing something and consciously deciding what you think about it. Reading other reviews I find that some, mostly those in this particular field of unconscious decision making, find the book overly simple. I think that largely misses the point. Gladwell does not intend to educate someone, nor to make them an expert in the field of snap-judgements. The whole purpose of the book is to make us think about something we never think about: not thinking. The book gets tied up in Gladwell's personal opinions on the subject matter, but how can it not? He's an author trying to sort through something he isn't an expert on and he makes that known. The point is to introduce us to this world, to something we've never considered, and allow us to then go through the same journey he experienced. I have a funny story about this admittedly. I'm currently enrolled in Gladwell's MasterClass, and I signed up for it without having read any of his work. I had watched a TEDTalk video of his, but never read anything he had written. As I sorted through his books, I struggled to find one that grabbed my attention. This one seemed interesting, but the subtitle, "The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," made the book seem like one of those ridiculous self-help books. But I decided to give it a shot and read it. I'm glad I did. The reason I say that story is funny is because it is the very thing this book is about. I looked at the book, read what it was about, and my gut-reaction said that I wanted to read it. It was also after going introspective and pondering over the book, after looking at the subtitle, that I had second thoughts and reconsidered. Thank fully the millisecond, gut-reaction won out and I picked the book up, because it was well worth the read. Is it overly simple at times? Probably although I certainly can't say for certain. But is it endlessly fascinating and filled with factoids that will have your mind racing about their possibilities? Absolutely.