Blink! is a must-read. Ever wonder why you have to keep calling someone's name over and over and over when they are on the computer or watching TV? It's because they are so focused on what they are doing or watching that they literally cannot hear you. A person's mind can be zoomed in on his or her task that all peripherals become handicapped. Yes, I'm speaking for myself as well. My husband would have to yell sometimes because I cannot hear him even though he's 10 feet away when I'm on the computer or watching TV. It's called mind blindness. Blink! explains all that.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/ I'm going to jump this in here to give you the opportunity to take the IAT (Implicit Association Test) "assess your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers to styles of music." Take the test. You may be shocked with the results.

Blink! is certainly an "intellectual adventure story". It is an important read for many people wanting to understand the theory of how the origins of their thoughts and feelings generate the decisions we make during any type of given situation whether it be high stress or mundane. Blink is important because it provides insight into our unconscious and helps us to make better decisions also encouraging looking past stereotypes and prejudices. Malcolm Gladwell calls these errors of judgment the "Warren Harding Error" from a famous example where people voted for President Harding based on his charisma, personality, and physical appearance. Yet former President Harding became one of the worst presidents in history.

One of his ideas really hit home for me and that is what to do during a high stress emergency situation. As a parent, I don't want to feel crippled when action and quick decisions need to be made. The idea is that you act out the event as if it were really happening to get your mind and body ready to deal with those situations. The example he uses is with special forces that have to undergo intense training simulations where they get shot (not fatally of course) and have to continue to function. Their heart rate at the beginning is high then it lowers with each exercise. When we have a high rush of adrenaline our mind is vulnerable to our unconscious and we have to learn how to control it in order to minimize mistakes. A classic example of a scene like that is the fatal 41 bullet shooting of Diallo by four police officers. They made the wrong snap judgment thinking Diallo was a criminal and had a gun. The police officers stood over his body only to realize what he was holding in his hand was not a gun, but a wallet.

Blink! is such an influential book with the objective of freeing your understanding of how your thinking works in order to make the world a better place making better choices. Blink! is based on Malcolm Gladwell's theories, but I believe there is some truth to them. I plan on picking up "The Tipping Point" and "Late Bloomer".

Partial excerpt of Reading Group Guide, A Conversation with Author Malcolm Gladwell page 7:
**What do you want people to take away from Blink?
"[Blink]It is concerned with the smallest components of our everyday lives-with the content and origin of those instantaneous impressions and conclusions that bubble up whenever we meet a new person or confront a complex situation or have to make a decision under conditions of stress. I think it's time we paid more attention to those fleeting moments. I think that if we did, it would change the way wars are fought, the kinds of products we see on shelves, the kinds of movies get made, the way police officers are trained, the way couples are counseled, the way job interviews are conducted, and on and on. And if you combine all those little changes together, you end up with a different and happier world."

Source: http://www.sazze.com/products/malcolm-gladwell-blink-the-power-of-thinking-without-thinking