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Blink The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell 8601416581309 Books

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Blink The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell 8601416581309 Books

This book is one among a number of recent volumes which speak to quirks in human decision-making. Each emphasizes that our brains are not ideally constructed to make rational decisions; some of these argue that rational decision-making may not be as effective as many think; some argue that the use of quick and frugal "rules of thumb" are (or are not) pretty effective. Works addressing such issues include: Tavris and Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But not by Me); Gilovich et al., Heuristics and Biases; Fine, A Mind of Its Own; Gigerenzer, Gut Feelings; Linden, The Accidental Mind. And now "Blink," by Malcolm Gladwell (author of the best seller "The Tipping Point").

The book begins with a vignette, focusing on the Getty Museum being offered the chance to purchase a particular work. The Museum used scientific methods to try to determine if the object was legit--or a phony. They decided that it was good and purchased it. However, a handful of experts, after just a quick glance at the object, concluded that it was a fraud. Later research agreed with those snap decisions.

This illustrates a key point made by Gladwell: Sometimes quick and dirty decision making is actually better in terms of outcomes than agonizing efforts at rational analysis. He points out that this is what evolutionary cognitive expert Gerd Gigerenzer calls "fast and frugal" decision making.

A number of examples are used to illustrate how well "thin slice" decision-making can work. In a war game, one side (the Red Team) used "out of the box" thinking against the other side (The Blue Team), which represented the United States. The latter team used rational decision making efforts, did after action analysis at each step, and tried, in short, to use "best practices." The leader of the Red Team worked more by "feel," allowing his subordinates to take initiative on their own. End result? The United States was defeated! Gladwell's conclusion is that thin slice, fast and frugal decision making was more effective.

He adduces any number of examples as to why quick decision making works better than rational analysis. This is firmly in the tradition of Gigerenzer and his collaborators, extolling the virtues of fast and frugal heuristics (decision making shortcuts).

However, Gladwell understands that there is also a darker side to this thin slice decision making. Stereotypes can end up guiding decision making. He wonders if this explains the disproportionate number of African-Americans who are imprisoned, if this explains why some people get better deals in negotiation with auto dealers than others, if this is why Amadou Diallo dies in a hail of gunfire from police in the Bronx. And this is the side of decision making shortcuts that Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and their colleagues address (see the volume earlier mentioned edited by Gilovich et al).

The final chapter is Gladwell's effort to somehow encourage the positive payoffs of the use of these quick and dirty decision making processes while minimizing the negative consequences. Convincing? I'm not so sure, but the author surely makes us think about these issues. A very well done book.


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Blink The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell 8601416581309 Books Reviews

A terrible collection of cherry picked anecdotes and conflicting data, all carefully laid out to appeal to the instant gratification of the human ego.

Gladwell had made a chunk of change telling us we can "blink" and know the truest of truths... that our guts are inherently correct (well, except the many times he points out how incorrect they are, due to racism (except when he back pedals and says maybe the people in that example aren't racist, actually), sexism (except when he says it's possible sexism was not, in fact, a factor in such and such examples), and other biases (which the book both promises to teach us to control and says we have *no ability* to control), and that by "thin-slicing" (making use of the "adaptive unconscious" of our mind, which, incidentally, he says repeatedly can never be unlocked) we can be better people, fight wars "better", and solve the problems of the world.

It's a book for the casual reader, so the stories he uses to back up his arguments are often terribly irresponsible anecdotes. The studies he references are rarely detailed sufficiently so that the reader could know whether they'd had any controls, had been repeated and peer reviewed, etc. They're riddled with opinion and assumptions about results, and we're left to assume the lens from which he makes these statements is pure and holy.

The best take away from this self help quickie is that some people will, as a result of spending a dozen or so hours reading it and thinking about their minds and how they work, will be, going forward, more introspective, which is not a bad thing. The worst take away is that some (and I fear most) people will glean only the basest concept from his promises that their guts are always right, leaving them less introspective and more irrationally bold and self-satisfied.
This book touches on a brilliant idea we make decisions rapidly, even if we can't always explain exactly HOW we make those decisions. Gladwell does an excellent job at providing evidence to back up his claims. Really... he provides a plethora of examples to support these claims. In my opinion, WAY too many examples.

I'm a bottom-line kind of person and I don't read for fun; I read to gain applicable knowledge. Gladwell proved his concept in the first 30-50 pages and that was good enough for me. He then proceeded to continue proving the concept for another 200 pages. I hardly learned how to actually apply the concepts of rapid-cognition from this book and I'm annoyed at how much of my time was wasted. I wish he proved the concept in 30-50 pages and followed it up with actual ways to take advantage of that concept.

This book verified something that I believed to be true (rapid-cognition) without providing ways to practically exploit the theory. I'm not buying anything else of Gladwell's, but I would recommend looking up the sparknotes/summary of this book.
This is an incredible tour de force with detailed research and eye-opening, and often disheartening insights into our flawed personal decision making processes. If read rightly, I believe this will thrust you into a new way of thinking and cause you to strive to develop ways to overcome unintentional biases and even hope to improve when you "trust your gut." Read wrongly, it will either cause frustration and hopelessness or anger and resentment. Gladwell does not give a prescription here. He doesn't provide a blueprint or a roadmap. He educates and leaves it to us to see where in our day to day we might be mind blind or are relying too heavily on data rather than instinct (or vice versa). It is truly up to us to take this information and use it as a lens to examine our own thinking and search to improve how we take what we see and use it to make better choices.
This book is one among a number of recent volumes which speak to quirks in human decision-making. Each emphasizes that our brains are not ideally constructed to make rational decisions; some of these argue that rational decision-making may not be as effective as many think; some argue that the use of quick and frugal "rules of thumb" are (or are not) pretty effective. Works addressing such issues include Tavris and Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But not by Me); Gilovich et al., Heuristics and Biases; Fine, A Mind of Its Own; Gigerenzer, Gut Feelings; Linden, The Accidental Mind. And now "Blink," by Malcolm Gladwell (author of the best seller "The Tipping Point").

The book begins with a vignette, focusing on the Getty Museum being offered the chance to purchase a particular work. The Museum used scientific methods to try to determine if the object was legit--or a phony. They decided that it was good and purchased it. However, a handful of experts, after just a quick glance at the object, concluded that it was a fraud. Later research agreed with those snap decisions.

This illustrates a key point made by Gladwell Sometimes quick and dirty decision making is actually better in terms of outcomes than agonizing efforts at rational analysis. He points out that this is what evolutionary cognitive expert Gerd Gigerenzer calls "fast and frugal" decision making.

A number of examples are used to illustrate how well "thin slice" decision-making can work. In a war game, one side (the Red Team) used "out of the box" thinking against the other side (The Blue Team), which represented the United States. The latter team used rational decision making efforts, did after action analysis at each step, and tried, in short, to use "best practices." The leader of the Red Team worked more by "feel," allowing his subordinates to take initiative on their own. End result? The United States was defeated! Gladwell's conclusion is that thin slice, fast and frugal decision making was more effective.

He adduces any number of examples as to why quick decision making works better than rational analysis. This is firmly in the tradition of Gigerenzer and his collaborators, extolling the virtues of fast and frugal heuristics (decision making shortcuts).

However, Gladwell understands that there is also a darker side to this thin slice decision making. Stereotypes can end up guiding decision making. He wonders if this explains the disproportionate number of African-Americans who are imprisoned, if this explains why some people get better deals in negotiation with auto dealers than others, if this is why Amadou Diallo dies in a hail of gunfire from police in the Bronx. And this is the side of decision making shortcuts that Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and their colleagues address (see the volume earlier mentioned edited by Gilovich et al).

The final chapter is Gladwell's effort to somehow encourage the positive payoffs of the use of these quick and dirty decision making processes while minimizing the negative consequences. Convincing? I'm not so sure, but the author surely makes us think about these issues. A very well done book.