Well, I just finished reading 'Blink' and what a FANTASTIC book it is! 'Trust my snap judgment, buy this book: you'll be delighted' says The New York Times, and I totally endorse them. I was a MG fan from the time I read 'Tipping Point' (his first book) which I loved, but with 'Blink', he's gone one better, and has (unbelievably) delivered an even better book to officially become my favourite non-fiction writer!
For those uninitiated, in 'Blink' MG tries to convince us of the power of our intuitions. How sometimes, our 'snap judgments' are far more reliable than decisions arrived at after analysing a whole lot of material. He delves deep into the human mind and it's functioning and proves, as much with scientific as with anecdotal illustrations, that a lot of times, extra information is not only unhelpful, it is also harmful!
So does that make this book some sort of an elongated medical article about the innards of the human brain, that only medial fraternity can understand? Not at all! The very fact that I (who last read biology in class 10 and that too only because I wanted to pass the damned subject) read it, understood it and relished every page of it shows that it is not. His inimitably, witty style of writing makes for an enormously interesting read while at the same time, evidence of the amount of research and analysis that has gone into this book leaves the reader floored. (Btw the 'Notes' section of the book is the MG version of a bibliography and only he could have turned a mundane listing of sources into a few more interesting pages worth reading!)
At the end of it all, you may agree with the author or you may not. But irrespective of your final conclusion, you will have loved the book. As the 'New Statesman' said, "...this wonderful book should be compulsory reading."
5 comments:
Hmmm, high praise indeed. For some reason I can't bring myself to read almost any non-fiction whatsoever, but had this not been the case, your review would have definitely tempted me to borrow the book from you.
@sroyon: thanks! if at all you decide to start reading non-fiction, this book would provide the perfect beginning. Try it!
And in keeping with the theme of your post, there's a Susmit Biswas exhibition in Cal titled "If You Look You May Not Leap". It's on till June 17. Not sure if it's any good though.
@ sroyon: hmm... if i understand the topic correctly, the exhibition essenially says don't look..if you want to leap. that's not what MG says. he says if your first look tells you to leap.. LEAP! but if u're 1st look tells you not to leap.. don't! obey your first impression and don't crowd u're brain with extra information and opinions!
well it's slightly more complicated than this.. but this is the jist.. for simplicity's sake!
this book must be quite a cult thing...coz i remember last month one of the issues of the Sunday Times of India had two separate references to the author's work..i am obviously in queue for this one.
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