Finished reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.
Not a very good book. I defer to Richard Posner's excellent critique of Blink, but I can add that Malcolm Gladwell writes in a very passive style (he also overuses variations of the phrase "it turns out that" when pointing out that conventional wisdom is wrong) and repeats his anecdotes a little too often. About halfway through the book we find out that you can develop quick thinking and reaction through extensive research and experience. Is that such a revolutionary idea? The discussion about Kenna and his struggle to get the singles from his album New Sacred Cow played on Top 40 radio was very interesting. His album is a case of the critics loving something that the majority of actual radio listeners aren't really interested in, and seems out of place in a book about "initial reactions" and how to control them.
