Malcolm Gladwell

I had heard of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point before but hadn't thought to read it until I came across his book Blink as an audio book at the library.

I really enjoyed Blink. I find it fascinating how little we understand of the factors that determine our decisions. Our brains are amazing instruments, that we understand woefully little of. This book shines a light on the limitations of our understanding as well as the great potential in our lives if we can learn to use more of our brain's capabilities. Unfortunately I finished this book more than two months ago so the ideas aren't fresh in my mind, but it left me thinking every time I set the book down.

After such a delightful time with Blink I checked out The Tipping Point, Gladwell's earlier book. Even though I didn't find The Tipping Point quite as engaging as Blink, that is not to say that I wasn't left thinking about the book often and for extended periods of time. I ended up discussing this one with my wife nearly as much as I did while listening to Blink. I agree with Gladwell's explanation of the creation of epidemics and social fads. Knowing the factors that go into making things sticky still leaves the challenge of actually making things sticky. There are obviously companies and people who have outstanding track records at making ideas and products sticky, but it still feels like a bit of magic that leaves me stumped. Not that I have had any great ideas, messages, or products that I have felt needed to shared with the world.

Having read both books I just came across Malcolm's blog and plan to check out some of the other topics he writes about. He has an engaging style that made it easy to follow his reasoning and left me to ponder the possible applications of these books in my own life.