The 20-Year-Old Point-of-View: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
For Whom: Behavioral Psychologists, Leaders, Critics, Judges, Sociologists, People Who Think
By Whom: Malcolm Gladwell, journalist and underground up-and-coming non-fiction writer.
Blink was written too early.
Published in 2005, 16 years before the time of my writing, Gladwell’s second novel to his breakout-hit The Tipping Point introduces us to a phenomenon called “thin-slicing”, or the ability for the mind to create snap judgements without much critical thought. This is sometimes referred to as a “hunch” or “gut feeling”.
If the name Daniel Kahneman rings a bell, then this concept should be familiar to you. Unfortunately, it would be another 6 years until Kahneman would publish Thinking Fast and Slow, which laid out in excruciating scientific detail the behavioral science behind the main subject of Gladwell’s book. Having read Kahneman’s book before Gladwell’s, reading this book became an exercise in something I’ll refer to as hindsight reading: that is, the idea of reading an older, slightly obsolete novel to see how thinking on a particular subject has evolved — for better or for worse. As such, this review will differ slightly from my usual style (describing a book’s qualities, what it does well and what it could do better).
If I could say Kahneman did any one thing particularly well in Thinking Fast and Slow, it would be providing us a vocabulary with which to discuss the concept of inattentive and attentive thought, referred from here on as System I and System II. What it sacrifices in readability and engagement it makes up for in raw academic appeal: there isn’t a better novel out there that describes such a system in excruciating detail that it makes its way into my first-year Introduction to Psychology class as an entire chapter.
Gladwell’s novel, in comparison, lacks the droves and droves of scientific analysis and study that Kahneman’s has (not to say it doesn’t have any, some studies are sprinkled in but nothing in the magnitude of Kahneman’s). But the hardcore science has never been Gladwell’s main appeal: the fact that he can spin engaging narratives from the science is what makes him such an appealing author, and allows his books to permeate into the public mind. I enjoyed reading Gladwell’s novel much more than Kahneman’s because it made an active attempt to keep my attention the entire time.
So where does that leave us? Gladwell’s book has a strong narrative, riveting message and call to action, whereas Kahneman’s has the droves of evidence and scientific analysis to have a widespread effect on the world of academia as a whole.
If I could wave a magic wand, I would have Gladwell and Kahneman create a sequel to Blink with the new vocabulary introduced by the most recent developments in behavioral psychology. While not contradicting anything of the original novel, Gladwell now has the ability to draw upon the new concrete ideas and concepts that academia has to explain fresher narratives on the same themes that made the novel so engaging.
4/5. Important novel, slightly dated but very relevant.
