Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant--in the blink of an eye--that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"--filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Contents

Introduction: The statue that didn´t look right
1. The Theory of Thin Slices: How a little bit of knowledge goes a long way
2. The Locked Door: The secret life of snap decisions
3. The Warren Harding Error: Why we fall for tall, dark, and handome men
4. Paul Van Riper´s Big Victory: Creating structure for spontaneity
5. Kenna´s Dilemma: The right -and wrong- way to ask people what they want
6. Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The delicate art of mind reading
Conclusion: Listening with your eyes -the lessons of Blink

Afterword
Notes
Acknowledgements
Index
Reading Group Guide