Gladwell's writing is compelling and the book is rich of case studies and examples. But it seems to me he's just moving around one thesis which is too difficult to develop in rigorous terms. ( )

Stopped on page 99 but can't tell you more than an overall impression of what I've read. The premise being something that I already surmised before I read the book.
I'm not sure that it would have sold as well if he had called it an educated intuition. Using words like thin-slicing and blink may make it sound more modern but it's a very old concept. (p147) ( )

Stopped on page 99 but can't tell you more than an overall impression of what I've read. The premise being something that I already surmised before I read the book.
I'm not sure that it would have sold as well if he had called it an educated intuition. Using words like thin-slicing and blink may make it sound more modern but it's a very old concept. (p147) ( )

3.5 *

This is Malcolm Gladwell's second book after [b:The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference|2612|The Tipping Point How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference|Malcolm Gladwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1473396980s/2612.jpg|2124255] and the second book of his I read in the space of a couple of weeks. Unsurprisingly, there are similarities in Gladwell's approach to his themes. He starts with an arresting anecdote, which he uses to introduce his subject. Then, after setting out the elements of his thesis, he addresses them one by one in the ensuing chapters, illustrating his points with intriguing examples, stories and references to psychological experiments.

In many ways, Gladwell's second book is even more ambitious than "The Tipping-Point". In the latter work, he sought to explain "cultural/social epidemics" or what makes a particular idea or product suddenly popular. In this book, he not only tries to explain what goes on in our minds when we make "snap judgments", but, as declared in the introduction "the third and most important task of this book is to convince you that our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled".

After reading the introduction, one would surely be forgiven for expecting this to be a "self-help book", a guide to harnessing the power of "thin slicing" or "making a little knowledge going a long way". The problem is that the book is nothing of the sort. Its initial message seems to be that "snap judgments" are great: art experts recognise forgeries when all evidence points to the contrary, a particular psychologist is able to predict the longevity of a marriage just by watching moments of a conversation between a couple - the list of such amazing examples just goes on. However, most of the book is then spent describing what can go wrong with snap judgments. And an awful lot can go wrong, apparently. Unconscious bias affects even the fairest of subjects, stress can turn us momentarily "autistic", some matters just cannot be assessed through "first impressions". The conclusion seems to be that there are no magic solutions to these shortcomings - except becoming experts in our respective fields, being conscious of our unconscious bias (and consciously trying to overcome it) and training to either avoid or get used to stressful situations.

There's no denying Gladwell's flowing and entertaining style and I will treasure some of the insights contained in the book (I was particularly struck by the evidence for "unconscious bias"). However, at the end of this read I felt somewhat let down.

Thinking without thinking? Think again... ( )

Very interesting book about how our intuition is often better than we think. ( )