Zeitgeist, I!
I can spot a book fad a release date away.
A few months ago New Yorker staff writer, Malcolm Gladwell, gave a reading on CSPAN-BookTV for the release of his upcoming book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and, I admit it, I was captivated. Its subject was immediate, its logic 'felt right'. The author, looking like Carrot-Top (only likable and, at times, humorous) was unassuming and articulate, offering information and illustration where often, in other pop-theorists, too much enthusiasm and certainty are found. When my girlfriend, who had been watching as intently as I, said to me, "He makes sense. That sounds like a good book." and went on to elaborate on her own ideas of following one's instinct, I knew something was up. A nerve, as they say, had been touched upon.
Though Gladwell's previous book, "The Tipping Point", was plenty well-received, and while the author is in the midst of his book tour for the new book, still I detect an uncommon initial rippling of the sort that often precede marketplace phenomena. Blink and Mr. Gladwell are everywhere these days. Sure, he can be found in all the usual places; Time, Newsday, The Christian Science Monitor, etc. But then also this month he can be found in Fast Company (Business), Wired (Tech), Breathe (Yoga and Enlightenment), as well as an interview at All-Baseball.com--talk about having all the angles covered! A Google search for + “Malcolm Gladwell” +Blink brings up 18,800 references. Again, all the usual suspects appear, but then so too do a growing number of blog entries.
Okay, so maybe this isn’t such new news to you. Maybe I do not have my thumb set so precisely upon the pop culture pulse as I think. Maybe you already know all about Malcolm Gladwell. Maybe you’re a long-time subscriber to The New Yorker, you’ve read “The Tipping Point” and pre-ordered “Blink”. Maybe you’re way ahead of me. More indicatively: maybe you know one or two others who have mentioned this new book on following your gut, this frizzy-haired author who is “so interesting to listen to”…So what does that tell you?
With article first lines that begin “Perhaps the book to start off the new year with…” and “The business book of the year will probably be…”, and with nary a suspicious, controversial or contradictory view to be noted (except for, somewhat-notably, Janet Maslin's New York Times review citing the book's common-knowledge premise--We rubes!--and analogizing far too conveniently, far too obviously, the book's "bad grammar" to first impressions) can Oprah lay far ahead? What about a Dr. Gladwell Christmas Special? Or "Blink: for Teens"?
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
good eye J. - I have noticed an odd deference to this guy since at least the publication of Tipping Point. Maybe he has a real good PR company behind him. Thanks and welcome!
2 - Eric Berlin
Selected for Advance.
3 - Mike Koenigs
Not The Tipping Point, But Still a Fun Read
I thought The Tipping Point was a great book. Entertaining, enlightening and relevant.
My pitch on this one: "We intuitively 'know' in our gut what's right or accurate 'at first blink'. And more often than not, that reaction is accurate more than 50% of the time. The more we 'think' about something or get emotionally involved, the less accurate our 're-thinking' it is. Professionals who have lots of experience in a particular area of expertise develop an ability to process very complex concepts or situations unconsciously and are right more often than wrong."
Malcolm goes on to cite plenty of entertaining examples around art forgery (pros who spot a fake but can't tell you why it is), marriage consultants (who predict with over 90% accuracy whether a couple will be together), gamblers (who change their betting behavior before they consciously know what's wrong), a tennis critic (who could predict a fault before the ball hit the racket) and plenty of others that are interesting.
After reading a couple chapters, my wife said, "I call it a woman's intuition"…no big deal.
I can't say that's all there is to the story, but there's some truth in the comment.
The bottom line: it's a fun, fast read and it's good for some entertaining conversation with friends and business associates.
The good
- Very Entertaining
- Well-written
- Malcolm is a great story-teller (or has an awesome editor or both)
- The stories are relevant and interesting
- He boils some complex ideas down into easy to understand stories
- As a consultant, it's an easy book to recommend to others
- Very good conversation material
The not-so-good
- It's not a "how to" nor do I feel that there significant distinctions or lessons that can be applied to your real or business life " adjust your expectations now
- It's "kinda mushy" " I'd categorize this a "Pulpy Pop Business Book"
- Not as revealing or useful in a business environment as "The Tipping Point"
My "Blink":
- I'm betting he got a multi-million dollar advance on this book
- If you like Dan Brown's books (The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons), you'll like this. Note that there's no connection between the content, author or material here. It's just an instinctive reaction
- Malcolm needs to write another book as great as "The Tipping Point" or he won't be seeing another big advance like this one.
All in all, it's a nice "Chinese dinner". Great tasting, enjoyable but I felt hungry an hour after the last bite.