I recently finished reading the bestseller Blink for my book club (yes, book club–it’s cool). Though it was not my pick, it’s a book I’d been meaning to read for a while, so I was eager to dive in.
I’ve been a fan of its author, Malcolm Gladwell, for some time now. I read a few of his magazine articles from time to time. One article, Examined Life, about the life of educational entrepreneur Stanley Kaplan, is a favorite of mine. I will post it on my site soon.
Anyway, I find Gladwell to be a talented writer. He has a very engaging style, which is no doubt a reason he writes for the New Yorker. As a “read,” Blink is quite good. But I think it fails to synthesize many of the disparate ideas its chapters present. Instead of being the treatise the author promises at the beginning, the book is more a collection of anecdotes on what might be described as “unconscious decision making.”
I do find the text fulfilling, however, as it raises questions about the way we think about thinking. It’s worth the read, if for the stories alone. Tell me what you think.
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