Harry Potter isn’t great literature; however, it is inspiring a large number of kids (and adults) to read. And that’s a good thing. Judging by the New York Times Bestseller List, Malcolm Gladwell is doing the same thing; getting people to read. We are left with two choices: lament that they are not reading “Oliver Twist,” and “Intuition at Work,” or rejoice that at least they are reading something!
I liked Blink. It delivered precisely what I want in a non-fiction book. Fast read, cool ideas, things that made me go “Hmmmm?” and I was left pondering what I might do differently in my own life.
I liked the reminder that the mind process is happening faster than we realize and I liked the reminder that we can be proactive about our programming. We are not victims of the messages we received as a kid or receive daily in the news and media. We can make conscious choices.
There are a lot of new age books and motivational business books that deal with intention. And despite our skepticism, it seems to work. Perhaps the “affirmations” are working at reprogramming the preconscious level that was discussed in Blink. If it sounds corny, just consider how silly “you need to wash your hands because there are invisible bad things on them that are too small to see,” must have sounded in the 1800’s.
If nothing else, the next time you see a cop on TV nonchalantly kill someone and then go out for coffee as if nothing had happened, or the next time you fill out demographic information on some type of test or assessment, or the next time you get your pulse above 155 you might be aware that there is more going on here than what is immediately obvious.
When all is said and done, from time to time we need to be reminded that our body/ brain system is pretty amazing and that with a little care, we can live more consciously.
So bring on more.
Todd, you may be taking this too seriously. If you don’t like a book it can always be used to balance a wobbly table.
Posted by Cathy Alper at February 10, 2005 10:46 AM | TrackBackNicely said. I've put down my two cents on Gladwell's book, but your points are well taken.
Posted by: Tom Ehrenfeld at February 10, 2005 02:47 PM