Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell on rapid cognition: thin-slicing, the expertise that makes snap judgments reliable, and the biases that make them dangerous, with stories from art forgery to police shootings. It is entertaining and the lesson is mixed, trust intuition sometimes, by design. The science has aged unevenly, as with all his books.
Read it if…
you want an engaging introduction to when intuition works and when it fails.
Skip it if…
you want a clear rule; the book deliberately refuses one.
Three things you will actually use
- Intuition is trained; it works in domains with feedback.
- Reduce information to improve some decisions.
- Guard against bias in first impressions of people.
Do this first
Note three snap judgments today and check later which were right; look for the domains where you are reliable.
Our verdict
Engaging and ambiguous; read with Kahneman.
Compare with other Mindset books
The Power of Positive Thinking
Norman Vincent Peale · Mindset
Dated, devotional and still quietly effective for readers who meet it on its own terms.
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Everything Is Figureoutable
Marie Forleo · Mindset
Cheerful and practical; a good book for people who think too long before beginning.
CLICK TO SEEBrowse all Mindset book reviews or get the free Reality Code Cheat Sheet.
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