Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Book Review 010)

ISBN: 9780316010665

Tagline: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell covered business, science and medicine for the Washington Post before becoming the New York City bureau chief. Currently he is a staff writer for the New Yorker

Blink is an unconventional book on an unconventional topic and is extremely engrossing. The writing style of the author and the choice of the stories/examples used by the author ensures that the reader remains glued to the book cover to cover.

Blink is a very good effort to highlight the importance of alternate gut-feeling based decision making. It very lucidly explains the pros and cons of making snap decisions and encourages the readers to understand the power of human mind. It tries to explain how and why certain experts are able to reach a decision without the need for complex and lenghty investigation and analysis.

With reference to the recent global financial crisis, I think that the book also seems to teach us that over dependence on the so called well thought-out and highly intricate mathematical models must be avoided as they are not fool-proof. Decision making cannot be based solely on such models and decision makers need to use the insights of their inner mind in an appropriate manner at all times to optimize the decision making process.

I do not want to dicuss any of the stories mentioned in the book, over here. Strongly suggest that you read the book to understand what I am talking about. This particular book would surely give the readers the same level of thrill even after reading multiple times. Though I have read it only once, I am pretty sure of this gut-feeling of mine 🙂