In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell take us on a journey to our unconsciousness, he breaks down how our ‘gut’ works in a manner that is a little beyond logical explanation due largely to how our brains work and goes further to show us through thorough research, from the experience of people in diverse fields, how our first instinct–thin slicing–can be mostly right but sometimes wrong depending on how well we have developed our ‘unconsciousness mind.’ Through the diverse experiences and sometimes researches of these individuals, we see how this works in various facets of life—car sales, determining how a couples marriage is, correctly predicting the outcome of a race, a double fault and much more.
In the authors words, “the first task of Blink is to convince you of a simple fact: decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately. So, when should we trust our instincts, and when should we be wary of them? Answering that question is the second task of Blink. When our powers of rapid cognition go awry, they go awry for a very specific and consistent set of reasons, and those reasons can be identified and understood. It is possible to learn when to listen to that powerful onboard computer and when to be wary of it. The third and most important task of this book is to convince you that our snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled. I know that’s hard to believe. Harrison and Hoving and the other art experts who looked at the Getty kouros had powerful and sophisticated reactions to the statue, but didn’t they bubble up unbidden from their unconscious? Can that kind of mysterious reaction be controlled? The truth is that it can. Just as we can teach ourselves to think logically and deliberately, we can also teach ourselves to make better snap judgments. In Blink you’ll meet doctors and generals and coaches and furniture designers and musicians and actors and car salesmen and countless others, all of whom are very good at what they do and all of whom owe their success, at least in part, to the steps they have taken to shape, manage and educate their unconscious reactions. The power of knowing, in that first two seconds, is not a gift given magically to a fortunate few. It is an ability that we can all cultivate for ourselves.”
I can’t capture the essence of this book better than the author ahs already done above, therefore, I encourage you to read this book and teach your unconsciousness mind to thin slice in a blink.
Congratulations on seeing the last day of 2021, may God let us see the next year in good health and peace.
PPBlessing 