“Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell

Fascinating and Very Useful

Full of useful and more importantly need-to-know information, “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell is one of the books that brake out of the traditional non-fiction genre to deliver more than the promised and subsequently anticipated content. The title is engaging in a sense that it reflects some powerful and mysterious skill set humans possess but are somehow not aware of. However, this is not a self-help book but one that none the less helps with its message. Its multiple examples reveal what once seemed conceivable but not cognitively possible. Who knew there is a study proving men over 6 feet earn on average $5,000 a year more than shorter men do? And how stunned can one be if one learned facial expressions are not necessarily evoked by emotions, but quite the opposite – facial expressions do evoke emotions (try it yourself, force yourself to smile for 5 minutes and observe the results afterwards)?

The author constructs the book by offering remarkable incidences and then examining the core networks of their causes, while at the same time drawing some powerful conclusions. In the end, even if you are unsure about the book, whether by looking at its cover, or reading reviews about it, I encourage you to pick up a copy in a bookstore or at the library and read the first 10 pages– you wouldn’t be disappointed. Overall, I highly recommend it.

-by Simon Cleveland