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Section 1
faster and often more correctly than the logical part of the brain can
manage. Gladwell sets himself three tasks: to convince the reader that these
discover where and when rapid cognition proves a poor strategy, and to
examine how the rapid cognition's results can be improved. Achieving three
Section 2
and worked there for nine years. He began freelancing at The New Yorker
before being offered a position as a staff writer there. Malcolm Gladwell has
an incomparable gift for interpreting new ideas in the social sciences and
audiences alike. Malcolm is a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine. His
that’s focused on the everyday and combines research with material that’s
more personal, social and historical. Gladwell's books and articles often deal
with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences and make
sociology, psychology, and social psychology. His father was British and
white, while his mother Joyce was a native of Jamaica and black. Like his two
God. Gladwell studied history at the University of Toronto, and had a brief
Washington Post in 1987 as a reporter. Over the next nine years he moved
up at the paper to become its science writer and then New York City bureau
chief. In 1996 he was lured away from the Post by Tina Brown, the then-
editor of the prestigious weekly magazine The New Yorker. Gladwell soon
carved out at niche for himself at the New Yorker with articles that offered
Published in 2005, Blink examines how and why the human mind makes snap
Traditional wisdom holds that these quick judgments are inferior to a more
that most decisions we make are based on our subconscious and occur in
target, aware of the context and the concerns of the audience, informative
and practical, poised, eloquent and delightfully warm and funny. Looking at
Malcolm's career, you would think that there was something special about
him. If you took all the journalists in New York, and saw how many got paid
seven-figure advances for their books, and sell seven-figure totals, and have
adjectives ("Gladwellian") all of their own, the answer would be: not many.
with material that’s more personal, social and historical. Gladwell's books
and articles often deal with the unexpected implications of research in the
social sciences and make frequent and extended use of academic work,
father was British and white, while his mother Joyce was a native of Jamaica
and black. Like his two brothers, Malcolm was encouraged to read in the
moving on to the Washington Post in 1987 as a reporter. Over the next nine
years he moved up at the paper to become its science writer and then New
Ivan Varghese
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York City bureau chief. In 1996 he was lured away from the Post by Tina
Brown, the then-editor of the prestigious weekly magazine The New Yorker.
and the concerns of the audience, informative and practical, poised, eloquent
and delightfully warm and funny. Looking at Malcolm's career, you would
think that there was something special about him. If you took all the
journalists in New York, and saw how many got paid seven-figure advances
for their books, and sell seven-figure totals, and have adjectives
("Gladwellian") all of their own, the answer would be: not many. Malcolm's
Section 3
exploration of the role of rapid thinking in everyday life. Gladwell shows how
what we call snap judgments, first impressions, or instinct are often right on
target and get to the core truths. He reveals that experts call this process
"thin-slicing"--the ability to dive for truth the way a basketball player grabs a
loose ball on the court, cutting through layers and levels of knowledge that
the parties talking to each other, whether their marriage will last, and how
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we send out, or just the ability to filter out bad signals and bad information.
We meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will
last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who
knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact
with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here,
too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke";
and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision
makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most
time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing",
filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of
keep. Our brains are able to perform that work unconsciously; when rapid
cognition breaks down, the brain has seized upon a more obvious but less
parties talking to each other, whether their marriage will last, and how thin-
we send out, or just the ability to filter out bad signals and bad information.
We meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will
last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who
knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact
with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here,
too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke";
and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Gladwell examines how race
and gender affect car dealers' sales strategy, the effect of height on salary
sometimes tragic consequences. He also examines how the wrong thin slice,