Book: Blink

Excellent read

Like James, I read this as an audio book and I agree Gladwell was a good reader. I also agree that it warranted all the attention I could give it, which can be difficult with audio books since I usually listen to them while multi-tasking or falling asleep. In fact, I might listen to the last chapter again since I was distracted.

Anyway, this book was fantastic. I even wished it was longer. The diversity of examples made it a really interesting read. The downside I guess is that there wasn’t a strong, cohesive takeaway (unlike The Long Tail). When the book is done, I know that intuition and thin-slicing are critical and can provide a much more reliable basis for decision-making than we give them credit form. But it’s clear that these techniques don’t apply in many, many cases and I’m not certain where to apply them. I guess what I know is that I should not apply them to the way people look and that thin-slicing is most valuable in an area where you are an expert, whether that’s professionally or personally.

Regardless of all that, Blink reaffirmed my need to consider intuition heavily in a decision I need to make this week. I am very happy about the timing of the read. :)