Lit Crit II- Blink or be Damned

Blink- or the power of instant judgments ratified by psychology...
Was given the book by my erudite sibling with this statement: " It reminded me of you and the decisions you have (not) taken in life..." The parenthesis is mine- he actually meant it on face value.
Quite a teaser and of course, the ego immediately insists on reading and then systematically refuting every single commonality, if only to prove to myself and him and the rest of the world that I'm not quite the screw up I'm seen as.
Blasted book! It led me down the path of highly painful soul searching and mental affirmations of " Oh God- I did do that, didnt I?" Very humbling...and downright scary.
We all go thru life insisting that we are perceived wrongly by those we love or respect or otherwise want to emulate. How horrible is it to see it shown up so strongly in print?
The book gets it down pat...rapid cognition indeed is less intuition, even less gender based and it does serve to either enhance or educate us depending on how well one interprets it.
Snap judgments- what we always do and what we almost always deny doing. The hottie around the corner, the grocer who's a rude so n so, the kid who spears you with a fork in a crowded restaurant, the parents that allow said kid to run amok in a public place, the 'vibe' you get from a new apartment, person, employer, date.... we'd like to think we are evaluating people on place rather than face value- over analyzing as it were, but somehow it always gets back to that initial meeting...if your gut says something, you either discount it or if you are the kneejerk type, you go with it and then you either get in more trouble or sail away happily.
The book strikes a sweet balance between the dichotomies inherent in each of us. We dont like being judged- yet we do it to others- and then we backtrack... coz we would hate to have it done to us.
The balance lies in learning to trust your instinct , turn a harsh light upon yourself and then make your move.The smart person is the one who doesnt override instinctual reactions under the light of a so called well thought out analysis, but one who has recognized that the trait has a reason- get into the reason and sift thru layers of why and how and why not- your individual likes and dislikes as it were- and then go with the flow.
All of us do it and keep doing it. This is the first book I've read that gives you the roadmap to understanding yourself and your reactions or actions in a much more meaningful manner.
I finally understood that everytime I went against gut instinct, I crashed and burned. The balance lies in figuring out why it happens and what you can do to navigate thru life using rapid cognition and yet, not reacting on a primal level.
I'm reviewing the darn thing and I cant seem to find the words- Malcom Gladwell did find the words- which is why he is the published author and I'm the anonymous blogger drifting in a sargasso sea of squiggles....!
The language of the book is such that even a relative doofus like me would understand- reminds me of another writer- Lyall Watson. He has the same ability to parse thru jargon and serve up his ideas in a language you understand.
Read Blink- and believe me, you would be glad(well) you did.