Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

Book Review:

I just completed reading “Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell (http://www.gladwell.com/blink/ ) and found it very enlightening. From the book I found insight as to what and where rabid cognition can be effective in my life. The stories provided a view into what “thin-slicing” is and what it takes to be able to effectively use this in our daily lives.

What I was glad to read in the book was that concept that in order to have a effective rapid cognition, one must first be a student of the situation. By this I don’t mean the actual instant that is taking place right now, but be an expert of that situation in the generic sense. For example I am an IT professional and I understand the details of IT project management and development. I have always been able to sit through a project status meeting and at the end be able to tell with fair accuracy if the project was on schedule and budget, and do this without a lot of background of the project, just by listening to the project manager’s status report. I’ve never put detailed though into why I’ve been able to do this, I thought I have a talent for IT projects. Well, now after reading the book, I realize that what I had thought of as an instinctive talent was a compilation of experience, knowledge, and insight in an area where I had expertise.

I really like the concept that the effectiveness of thin-slicing is in direct correspondence with knowledge in the area. The fact that you can improve this ability with study and learning and become better at rabid cognition is a real motivating factor.

The other end of the thin-slicing spectrum is when you follow your instincts in areas where you have no background. This can get you into more trouble that it is worth. There are times when you need to gather all pertinent facts and others where you just need the rapid cognition from you inner core. Gladwell does his best to help us understand what he called the “Warren Harding Error”, or recognizing the good rapid cognition from the bad.