Tapas thinking: “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell

I realize that this is the third book by Malcolm Gladwell to feature in these Facebook notes (or on this blog, depending where you are reading this), something I don’t think applies to any other author. Interesting, because even if I retain rather ambivalent feelings about Gladwell, I keep coming back for more, don’t I?

The reason is simple to find: Gladwell has great ideas. Actually, maybe not ideas, but insights. Actually, maybe not insights, but really smart formulations of what we already know – our insights. But, as I have said before, that’s not actually to question either the smartness of these books or their usefulness. What Gladwell does, it seems to me, is pick a rather commonplace idea which enjoys little formal or intellectual credibility and explain how and why it is indeed true. In The Tipping Point, he dealt with the idea that ideas and trends are successful suddenly, because they take hold of enough people to overturn a prior orthodoxy. In Outliers, he pointed out that the success of individuals can to a very large degree to the accident of their circumstances, though can still only be achieved with a great deal of hard work and application. In Blink, he essentially takes the commonplace statement “trust your instinct” and demonstrates how, in many cases, this is indeed sounder advice that any amount of careful examination of the options.

Stated like that, one’s reaction could be (in contemporary vernacular): “well, duh…” But that would be to underrate these books, which deploy both anecdote and serious study to validate the thesis. Through formulation and iteration of examples, Gladwell in fact ends up challenging orthodox ideas and shifting the world view of the reader and even feeding directly into the culture. (Remember all those keen-as-mustard opposition Tory cameronites waxing lyrical about the coming “tipping point” away from Labour?)

So why the ambivalence?

I suppose it has a lot to do with that word “iteration”. In effect, Gladwell’s mostly books consist of a single idea demonstrated over and over again. On the whole, if asked to say what any Gladwell book is about, my guess is that most people would respond by citing the basic idea set out in chapter one, and quite possibly also in the back cover blurb.  In Blink, he is arguably a bit more sophisticated, admitting of cases which demonstrate the very opposite of his main thesis, but I doubt that most readers would retain this ambiguity.

I don’t begrudge him his success or his status, because he is someone who can change the world, and because he does actually see the things that are right in front of our eyes, a wonderful gift. But he is not a Great Thinker – he is a great tapas thinker –serving up small delicious dishes that don’t necessarily make up a meal, but which are fantastic with a cocktail on a night out in somewhere cool like Barcelona.

Recommendation? Read this to understand more about our world – just be aware that each page turned, though always the easiest of reads, brings diminishing returns.