Blink

"I'm back like cooked crack, Yep!"
- Juelz Sanana

That's right. For those who missed me, I'm back. It's been a busy couple of weeks, what with my starting a new job and everything. I've had a lot on my mind, but I've been thoroughly exhausted, and so I haven't had much time to blog.

I just finished reading Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell. For those that know me, I don't read often. I chose this book, however, because I read an article by Bill Simmons "about" Gladwell. In the article, Simmons and Gladwell e-mailed back and forth for a period of time, discussing a bunch of different sports-related topics. It was Gladwell's responses to the topics that really caught my interest: for instance, "people think that Tiger Woods is tougher than Phil Mickelson because he works harder, but Tiger Woods is tougher than Phil Mickelson, and because of that he works harder."

It's statements like that, an alternate way of looking at things, that truly intrigues me. Which is why I enjoyed Blink so much. It was all about looking at things from a different perspective, and your mind playing tricks on you, in a sense. The book discusses what Gladwell calls "thin slicing," which is when our mind makes decisions based on very small bits of information, usually generated upon first impressions. Gladwell contends that our subconscious knows a lot more than we give it credit for, and if we learned to control our subconscious thoughts, and trust our instincts more, we would be able to recognize a lot of things that are hidden in everyday life.

He makes his point through examples of a man who can tell, with 95% certainty, by a 3 minute conversation between a couple if their marriage will last for the next 15 years, a gambling experiment where drawing a certain card would cost you to lose money, an army general who took on the entire U.S. amry in a war game and won, the Amadou Diallo murder, and countless other examples. It's really a wonderfully engaging read. If you're a fan of intelligent books, and just using you mind and finding new ways of thinking, i urge you to pick this book up (or at the very least, hit up the library like i did).

One thing Gladwell points out, that has definitely changed my perception of what I currently do for a living (advertising), was that, in the 1980's, Coca-Cola was losing market shares to Pepsi and decided that, because of blind taste tests, people liked Pepsi better. So they devised a product called "New Coke", which failed miserably. As it turned out, Pepsi tasted better with an initial sip, but not through a whole can. Not to mention, so much stock is put in the name of Coke, that many people just like the taste because it's a household name. Now, I know some of you are thinking that you already knew this. Sure, we al know a ton of people drink Coke because it's Coke, but one thing that Gladwell brings up is the psychological aspect behind it, that it's not just that Coke tastes better, but that the sight of the Coke label can make the product taste better because we expect more from Coke.

To me this is fascinating. Psychology is something I've always been interested in, how the brain works, etc., and this is right up my alley. I mean, just look at the title of my blog. Thought is something I'm incredibly interested in, and here Gladwell presents us with an entire book on the subject.

Anyway, I'm done babbling. Pick up the book for yourself and see what I mean.

More to come after lunch.