Blink (book)

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a 2005 book by Malcolm Gladwell in which he explores the power of the trained mind to make split second decisions, the ability to think without thinking, or in other words using instinct.

The author describes this phenomenon as "thin slicing": our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. In other words, spontaneous decisions are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones. Gladwell draws on examples from science, advertising, sales, medicine, and popular music to reinforce his ideas.

Gladwell explains how an expert's ability to "thin slice" can be corrupted by their likes, dislikes, prejudices and stereotypes, and how they can be overloaded by too much information. That is why police might be suspicious of a dark man out at night, as in the case of Amadou Diallo, when other signs would indicate that he poses no threat. Gladwell also tells us about our instinctive ability to mind read, how we can get to know what emotions a person is feeling just by looking at his face. He informs us that with experience, we can become masters at the game of thin slicing, but the book is not a course in mind-reading or even quick decision-making.