Malcolm Gladwell is a master story teller, and I found this book immensely entertaining ... at least when I wasn't looking for a coherent set of lessons. According to Gladwell, this is a book about "rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye." Gladwell more or less sticks to the theme, but what are we to make of rapid cognition? This is what I gather from Gladwell's book:
- Sometimes rapid cognition is very useful
- Sometimes rapid cognition is very dangerous
- Sometimes rapid cognition provides important insights
- Sometimes rapid cognition misses important insights
- Sometimes rapid cognition just happens
- Sometimes rapid cognition can be practiced and improved
This book reminds me of an expression that my colleague Stewart Macaulay uses when explaining irreconcilable judicial opinions: rapid cognition is important, except when it's not. Unfortunately, Gladwell does not help us to understand when we can trust rapid cognition and when we can't. All of his wonderful and contradictory stories make this book more like The Toastmaster's Treasure Chest than a useful attempt at popular science.
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