Blink:The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

In his landmark best-seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell showed how minor trends in the world around us -- political, social, and commercial – can reach critical mass and become powerful mass movements.

Now, in our summary of his new book, Blink, Gladwell examines the world within us -- our brains, psyches, and instincts. He examines the choices and judgments we make in an instant, in the blink of an eye.

During our lives, we’ll have to make critical decisions quickly. How can we ensure that they’ll be good ones? Blink explores why our best decisions -- from the boardroom to the battlefield -- often are impossible to explain to others.

It also reveals why some people can make brilliant decisions quickly, while others are inept. One psychologist can observe a couple conversing for a few minutes and predict with 90 percent accuracy if their marriage will succeed. A retired Marine officer can regularly outwit the Pentagon in war-games. A car salesman sells an almost unheard-of amount of vehicles.

Rapid cognition – that is, quick-thinking -- can be a powerful asset for trained, experienced people. But it can be a liability for the untrained and inexperienced.

Gladwell also examines great failures in the misuse of “blink,” including the election of the nation’s most untalented President, Warren G. Harding; the colossal flop of the beverage “New Coke”; and the killing of an unarmed man by New York City policemen.

Blink reveals that great decision-makers aren’t those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating. Instead, the people who make the best decisions are those who have perfected the art of thin-slicing. That refers to focusing on the few factors that matter -- and discarding everything that is irrelevant.

Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He formerly worked as a business and science reporter for the Washington Post.

Blink uses the best insights from biology, sociology, and psychology to show how people with organizational responsibilities can make better, faster decisions.