Category: Non-Fiction

Read: Blink

Blink
Malcolm Gladwell; Penguin Group UK 2009

 

This is the second book I have read from Malcolm Gladwell, and in reading both Outliers and now Blink; I enjoy the direct fashion the author presents his subject matter. It is refreshing to read books that take a matter of hours to read and yet still leave me with a more introspection and analysis about the authors assertions.

In Blink, Gladwell discusses the importance of our initial judgements in any given situation and how we can refine and cultivate our initial thoughts into a tool for assisting our daily lives.   He also describes how our initial reactions and insight to a particular event can fail us, occasionally with disastrous consequences.

The book does a good job of leading the reader to understand their intuition is worth paying attention to and not discarding immediately.  It does so with enough warnings that the reader should walk away knowing that a understanding our initial reactions is key whether we can trust instinct in a particular moment.

Read: Outliers

Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell; Little, Brown and Co. 2008

 

The author present several background stories on several successful and famous people to demonstrate the argument success largely depends on people and circumstances assisting the central character of each story.

It is a very fast read and a good story for investigating the under-represented reasons behind the success of individuals comprising the stories.