Today I finished the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
It is a book about intuition, first impressions, and quick decisions. We all make decisions based on information we have inside us that we aren't even aware of accessing. We do this all the time, and a good portion of the time, our instincts are helpful. They keep us out of dangerous situations; they tell us when something is not quite right; they tell us when someone is lying. However, there are times when the biases we have cultivated inside us lead us astray.
Gladwell explores the quick decisions and gut feelings made and had by emergency room doctors, police officers, interviewers, and other experts in various fields. He talks about the physical symptoms and the intellectual process that takes place. And interestingly, he discusses how people are hurt by, helped by, exploit, and develop these habits.
While the book was very interesting (it led me to the fascinating Implicit Association Test) I wanted a lot more from Gladwell. He presented his topic well, and had all of the examples to explain it. However, I felt like he never really got past the examples. I'm not exactly sure what more I wanted. I'll have to think about it; maybe I wanted him to take a more quantitative approach to his research. I am going to recommend this book though to those who want a quick and easy read that gets you thinking.
In other news: I cooked with quinoa for the first time today. Quinoa is cross between a grain and a cereal and is known for its nutritional content high in protein and amino acids (thank you Wikipedia) and is very tasty baked with tomato sauce, corn, spices and cheese and stuffed into green peppers (thank you Aubrey's taste buds).
Anything else of importance going on today? Nope! I didn't think so!
1 comment:
I have to agree. I read it a while ago, but I remember finishing it and not feeling as excited about the new ideas as I had with Tipping Point. It was still interesting.
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