Friday, April 25, 2008

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

by Malcolm Gladwell
"I believe . . . that the task of making sense of ourselves and our behavior requires that we acknowledge there can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis."
Are you interested in how the mind works? Do you ever wonder why people do what they do? Do you like reading short case studies of interesting historical events? Do you have to make quick decisions under pressure? Are you interested in music, art, politics, or psychology? If your answer is yes to any of the above, this book is for you!

This book was recommended to me by one of my professors in my MSW program. I have been wanting to read it since then and just barely picked it up from the library. Because I had high expectations, I was worried that I would be let down. I am happy to report that I was not!

This book is well organized as the author takes you through various case studies and research experiments. The logic was easy of me to follow and his style of writing kept me entertained. More than once I stopped in the middle of a chapter to write down a term, person, or website to look up online. This is a book I could enjoy reading over and over again. Indeed, for me to fully grasp the concepts, I plan to re-read it when I have more time to ponder the ideas and someone to discuss it with. This would make an excellent choice for a book club.

2 comments:

shaunita said...

who recommended it? just out of curiosity. i'm reserving it right now from our library.

Ruth said...

I can't actually remember which professor it was. I just remember sitting in a classroom at the U and a female professor was standing at the front telling us about this great book she read. I'm thinking it might have been our Diversity teacher or that Macro SW teacher. Or maybe it was that great teacher from my DSM class who transferred to Hawaii.

Also, I hope your expectations aren't too high. One reason I enjoyed it so much was that it was like a breath of fresh air compared to all the silly fiction I've been reading lately.

Let me know what you think. I'd love to disect his theories with you!