Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (5)

Malcolm Gladwell's writing in Blink (and all of his books) is clear and personable. He makes most of his points with fascinating anecdotes and studies. Every argument has a face. Every point is explained for the layman.

I appreciate that Gladwell does not pretend to be a pure academic, as if objectivity were something any person could achieve. Unfortunately, in explaining his ideas simply, he crosses from clarity into redundancy. Often I would worry I had lost my place and was re-reading an earlier paragraph, until I recognized his habitual repetition. I also had to slough through some unnecessarily detailed research. Okay, so there are thousands of facial muscles movements. I don't need to know exactly which ones form my smile, and what a pair of psychologists have named the combinations. I get that Gladwell researched his ass off for this book, but the self-serving detailed descriptions run contrary to his own points about the dangers of information overload.

But, I do love his theories. Gladwell reveals things we have forgotten about ourselves, or that we choose to ignore. In Blink, we are reminded that we are not just Platonic forms of humans - our bodies and our minds are interwoven. And it is wisdom (understanding), not knowledge (information) that we need.