Ok, so Blink was good. Really good. So good, in fact, that I devoured its 250 pages in 2 and a half days (and still managed to eat, sleep, and stay married). The back of the book promised that you’ll never think about thinking the same way again. (Lisa told me this is called meta-cognition.) And it certainly lives up to its promise. But I think the thing that fascinated me most about the book is the author. His phrasing, his approach, the material he chose to include, how he handled it, and the way he related the pieces to each other taught me about more than just rapid cognition: they also told me a lot about Malcolm Gladwell. Reading a book to understand the author is always an interesting endeavor. Some publishing companies, editors, and other intermediaries can do a pretty fair job of disguising the author’s persona, but never completely. For instance, when you read JFK’s Profiles in Courage, you get a sense that you’ve known Kennedy, the efforts of his ghost writer notwithstanding. A small amount of that effect is intended, but most of the clues about the author emerge unbidden and probably unintended.
Just thoughts,
Andrew