Blink
Malcolm Gladwell
Summary
In the book Blink the author Malcolm Gladwell discuses the topic of unconscious and conscious decision making. Gladwell talks about how your natural instinct is your unconscious brain coming to a decision. That some times thinking to much can make you choose the wrong options.
Author's Purpose
The author's purpose for writing this book was to inform about the art of decision making. For example Gladwell says " that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information [...] but those who have perfected the art of [...] filtering the very few factors that matter[...]" This is Gladwell's main purpose because through out the book he gives examples of people and how they have perfected their process on how they reach conclusions.
Main Concepts
- Thin slicing is a concept where you take a small piece from a set of data and come to a conclusion from it.
- Making important decisions isn't about considering every variable but weighing the more important ones out more then the less important ones.
- Some decisions are better made with less thought then others
Greatest Impression
The chapter that made the greatest impression on me was chapter 2 because it explains how a psychologist could examine a small part of a tape of a couple talking and tell if their marriage would last. It made the greatest impression because telling if a couple that you barely know is nothing easy.
Rating 1-5
On a scale of 1 through 5 I would rate this book a 4 because it is very interesting but can be really boring at times. It is like a big CEW paragraph, claim evidence and warrant People who are in to psychology or just into non fiction in general would like it.
Passages
Pg 46
- Thin slicing make sense of complicated situations in a flash.
- Without thin slicing sports would be boring
- Unconscious mind can make better decisions then your conscious mind
- When your conscious mind is blocked your unconscious mind is still going through possibilities.
Surprising
Decisions are better made with less thought because your unconscious mind is always processing information even if you conscious mind isn't.