Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc T River
I wonder how useful the book Blink would be. I have not read it, but this is a book that teaches you to go with your first instict.
Not exactly. It seems that way when just starting, but ultimately I found it mostly unhelpful.
First of all, the "instinct" thing (not really instinct) only works if you have a lot of expertise/experience. The first example in the book - scientists analyzed a statue for months and found that it was old. Art experts took one look at it and immediately decided "something doesn't look right - this is a modern fake". So they "got it" immediately, but only because they had years of education and experience.
Second, the book also "teaches" how wrong the approach can be. One example that stands out in my mind was a police group that shot an innocent man in a fairly innocent situation. They went with their immediate first instinct, based on years of experience and training, and shot and killed a man who was reaching for his wallet, and probably didn't pose a serious enogh threat time-wise or manpower-wise even if he had been reaching for a gun.
So the "premise" of the book, which superficially seems to be "make really quick decisions", was pretty lost on me. Perhaps it was more an essay on some of the elements involved in decision making, rather than a "here's how you should do it" book.