Greg Book Review - Blink / Malcom Gladwell

I picked this book up by Malcom Gladwell because I couldn't find his new book, The Outliers, in the library. A friend had recommended his recent book but since it wasn't available I found this one.

And I am glad I did. It was fantastic and fascinating.

Blink is about the judgements and perception we instantly create when we experience it for the first time. Have you ever saw something and known that something just wasn't right - it wasn't what it was purported to be? Gladwell opens up with the story of the Kouros (statues representing male youth in ancient Greece) that were offered to a large museum in New York. As the museum contemplated buying the collection they had many scientists come and test the statues for authenticity. All of the test came up positive as there had been some questions if the collection was of real kouroi. After all of the scientific tests had been run and the museum was on the cusp of buying the collection, they showed it to certain Greek art experts and all of them immediately said there was something wrong with the statues. They couldn't exactly put their finger on it but there were instant feelings that these were not real kouros statues.

Have you ever had that same feeling? That something wasn't quite right? The author goes through some fascinating ideas on why this occurs and comes up with some interesting theories on not only why it happens but how we can overcome preconceived notions.

One of the more interesting theories is his last chapter about situational autism. He explains that in high stress situations, we tend to blank out reason and go with base instincts and beliefs. Those who have not trained extensively in the right situations, like police officers, will fall back on thought processes that can lead to disastrous results. The idea is to train yourself to respond correctly in such situations by simulating those situations and evaluating them afterwards for responses.

2 thumbs up, can't wait to read The Outliers.