BLINK "the power of thinking without thinking"

Recently I've been fortunate enough to stumble upon some books that are not only incredible reading, but have also validated my thoughts on reasoning and how I like to think (Freakonomics). Malcolm Gladwell expressed one thought nicely in Blink.

How and why do we go about making quick judgments, and are those judgments reliable? Some people call it gut, rapid coginition, or intuition, I've explained it as taking a situation, paring down the issues that make a difference to me and resolving that situation. Once I've pondered the meat of that issue, I simply file that tidbit to be used in a similar situation. Of course, there are variables that always change in each situation, but if the variables are not part of the meat of those issues, I continue to react/or make decisions through what I call a shortcut. Of course, Gladwell has a much more eloquent and scientific explanation/approach: he calls it thin slicing.

According to Gladwell, thin-slicing refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on very narrow slices of experiences quickly. He explains further that when we leap to a decision or have a hunch, our unconscious is sifting through the situation and information, we throw out irrelevant information and focus on what really matters. He says that our unconscious is so good at it that thin-slicing often delivers a better answer than a more deliberate and exhaustive ways of thinking. Of course there are dangers to thin-slicing, such as not understanding our own biases and prejudices that can affect our decisions. The examples and experiments he provides to illustrate his ideas are fun and intersting as well, such as speed-dating and the Aeron chair. Thin slicing paraphrases my philosophy beautifully.

Fun reading.