Blink is journalist Gladwell’s second book, published in 2005, the runaway bestselling follow-up to his equally successful debut, The Tipping Point. In addition to his books, Gladwell has a popular podcast, “Revisionist History” that points out where “common knowledge” about past events turns out to be wildly incorrect.

In Blink, Gladwell introduces his thin-slicing concept: the way our subconscious mind picks up a few clues and draws apt conclusions. Granted, this idea works best when we have a lot of experience in a given subject. For example, he begins with art historians and their impressions of a Greek kouros (type of statue).

Gladwell has a knack for uncovering lesser known research work and the fascinating stories it generates. His writing style makes for a brisk, entertaining read, but also conveys some key ideas that we can use in our everyday lives.

Here are some of my take-aways from the book (in no particular order):

• Altering our facial expression can actually alter our emotional state.
• By rehearsing stressful situations over and over, we will respond more appropriately when the real thing occurs.
• Being able to contract one’s nostrils is a genetic “talent” (one I happen to possess—who knew?!).
• Rapid-onset, high-stress events that bring about high heart rates and pumping adrenaline will shut down our normal perceptions and cause us to behave in something approximating an autistic manner. This leads us to misread the situation and respond inappropriately.
• Intuitive judgments that occur when we thin-slice are best left unanalyzed. By trying to explain our reasons, we alter the outcome in negative ways. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how you know what you know.

I have not read The Tipping Point, but have also read Outliers and The Bomber Mafia (a different type of work than most of his books). They’ve all been enjoyable and educational. If you don’t want to commit to a book, check out his podcast!