Jess lent me this book by Malcolm Gladwell, the same author that wrote The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. I had previously read The Tipping Point but wasn't that interested. It talked about how quickly fads/phenomenons/epidemics spread and the factors that launch such widespread popularity. Some of the examples used were beanie babies and hush puppies (from what I remember), topics which I didn't really connect with.

In Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking , Gladwell discusses how gut instincts made in seconds often trump decisions made after lengthy research. This is something I feel everyone can relate to, and I found the examples used in this book to be more interesting and relevant. One topic Gladwell discussed was the Pepsi Challenge, a blind taste test where people surveyed took a sip of both Pepsi and Coke. The majority of testers chose Pepsi as the one they liked better, and as a result Coke researched and revamped their long standing formula only to fail miserably. After switching back to their "classic" formula, Coke recaptured their title as the #1 selling drink.

What I found really interesting was the reasoning behind these results. Many people favored Pepsi after a sip, but in a real setting most people don't have a sip, they drink a whole can. Something they may enjoy sipping on they may find too sweet to drink a can's worth. Also, people never drink Coke "blind", and the choice to choose Coke is influenced by the marketing and branding of the product.

In addition to providing examples of these effective split-second decisions, Gladwell also acknowledges that there are times where these gut instincts are wrong and briefly tackles how to differentiate between these situations. I felt that he could've elaborated on this aspect as it is one of the main takeaways from the book.

Recommended: Yes - an interesting read