Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Unabridged
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrator: Malcolm Gladwell
Genres: Business, Self-help
Publisher: Time Warner Audio Books
Date: January 2005
Length: 8 hours
Ratings:
Formats:
  • CD

Overview

From the bestselling author of "The Tipping Point" comes a groundbreaking newaudiobook about decision-making.

Reviews (76)

Blink: The Power of Thinking

Written by Pam from Long Beach, CA on September 16th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

What a great and interesting book this is! It's fascinating. I highly recommend it for anyone. I actually learned some things!!

Blink but don't fall asleep!

Written by NJ Bookman on August 25th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

While I enjoyed Blink, I found that the unabridged version was a little long. The points were valid but were repetitous especially when I was listening to disc 6 and 7. The main concept wasn't very clear about the benefit of rapid sub thinking which might be the author's point. Maybe I blinked too many times!

Great Book

Written by Anonymous from Hannon, ON on August 19th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

Ever wonder why we decide things on the spur of the moment and if our judgements are correct? This book is a great explanation as to why we do so and how our brains decide what information to keep and discard. I found this a very interesting audio book, well worth the rental! I enjoyed it a lot.

awesome book

Written by Anonymous on August 6th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I loved this book. Every once in a while there is a book that really makes me think and reflect on myself- the subject matter of this book obviously lends itself to that naturally- but this book offered insight that I have been over looking for years, so I found it very interesting. Its worth the listen for sure.

OK

Written by Brian Gleason from Chelmsford, MA on July 13th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 2/5

It was OK. Not waste of time, but not riveting. It did help me understand that little voice we all have that tells us when something isn't right but we are not sure what it truly is. I trust my hunches a little more now because there may be something to them. Give a listen and you might agree.

Excellent!

Written by sarac from Springville, CA on June 21st, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

I found this book fascinating. I have an MA in Communication Studies and I could follow it easily. My husband who has no experience with this topic actually found it very intriguing also. We had a few interesting discussions as we listened. I loved the analysis and enjoyed the different possibilities. What I got from the book personally is that we all make instant judgments and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't because we haven't placed them in the correct context. Our instant judgments are there, that is not deniabe. Great book and my compliments to the author for delving into a an emotional topic and studying it so thoroughly.

Blink

Written by Anonymous on May 26th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 4/5

This book was a great surpise to me. I really do not like psycho-babble. But...this book was really entertaining. Now if they would write a book how to use our first impressions wisely.

Very Dissapointing

Written by Anonymous on May 8th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 1/5

I do not understand all of the hype! There are some interesting anecdotes throughout, but his "analysis" as to why we do and process things as we do, this idea of "thin-slicing", is never explained beyond, what you will realize, is common sense. We have all experienced it and this book is nothing more than example after example of people experiencing it. Why is an art expert able to spot a fake? Because he's an ART EXPERT! When asked how he spotted it, the expert can't put it into words. The only explanation is that such things are processed in different areas of the brain. Why is another art expert not able to see it's a fake? Because he has an opportunity to buy something that might be amazing, his judgment is clouded! (That took over an hour to "examine".) Instead of lsitening to this book, find a friend that has and have them relay the interesting anecdotes. There, I saved you about 5 hours when you could listen to something from which you might gain some actual insight.

Blink

Written by Anonymous on May 6th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

While the individual anecdotes were interesting, there seemed to be no unifying thread. Much of the information seemed to contradict itself. The author would first make a case for making intuitive judgments quickly, then he would turn around and show the dangers of doing so. I could easily have done without this selection. I do not understand all of the whoopla surrounding this book.

Amazing!

Written by Anonymous from Woodbine, MD on April 18th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 5/5

After listening to this rented audiobook, I went out and bought it! My father and I listened during a long car trip, and he was blown away, too. Gladwell uses some amazing examples of "intuitive" thinking to demonstrate how we make decisions and analyze the world. I was completely fascinated. Gladwell is also a good reader - important for a book of this length and depth.

Author Details

Author Details

Gladwell, Malcolm

Malcolm Gladwell has the uncanny ability to generate value by interpreting groundbreaking research in psychology, sociology and neurology. He is the author of two New York Times #1 best-sellers - The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference (published in 2000), and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (published in 2005). With his first book Malcolm embedded the concept of the tipping point in our everyday vocabulary and gave organizations new tools for understanding how and why change happens, and how to create positive epidemics of ideas and behavior. Blink analyzes intuition –the kinds of judgments that are made unconsciously and instinctively –and explores how we can learn to be better at mastering the kind of instantaneous thinking that lies at the heart of successful decision making.

Gladwell, whose mother is Jamaican, was born in England on September 3, 1963. He was raised in Canada, and graduated with a degree in history from the University of Toronto in 1984. From 1987 to 1996, he was a science writer, and later the New York bureau chief for the Washington Post. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. Gladwell currently lives in New York City.

In the Blink of an eye, the unconscious mind decides lots of (often very important) things for us without our even knowing what we know or how we know it. In his groundbreaking book Blink, Malcolm describes how we make these intuitive decisions-both the good ones and the bad - and why some people are so much better at it than others. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, he shows how good decision making depends on the few particular details we focus on and explains how we can improve our intuitive instincts for interpreting these details correctly.

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm describes how trends work. He helps organizations identify the people who are crucial to the trend process and deploy their talents strategically. Gladwell says: “It’s a book about change. In particular, it’s a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.” The ideas in The Tipping Point have kept the book on various bestseller lists for three years, including over two years on the BusinessWeek paperback bestseller list.