unches, snap decisions, insights that occur in the blink of an eye — how does intuition work? According to Gladwell, it’s all about “thin-slicing,” the capacity to instantly focus on the essential while discarding the irrelevant. Can people improve their intuitive powers?
Yes, but “Blink” hardly serves as a self-help manual. Packed with case studies and human interest stories, this chatty and amusing work explores the unconscious mind, delving into topics like body language, hidden prejudices, and behavior manipulation. Since people rarely recognize their own motivations, Gladwell provides fill-in-the-blanks quizzes for readers to test themselves. At his best when relating breakthroughs like the facial action coding system (FACS), which has boosted the art of mind-reading, he demonstrates how unintentionally self-revealing most people are.
