Blink

Blink is a book about split-second decisions and first impressions. The book is filled with intriguing examples of the "Blink" process, or rapid cognition, at its most impressive - a psychologist who has developed a technique by which it is possible, after just a few minutes of observing a couple, to accurately predict whether or not their marriage will succeed; a tennis coach who knows, even before the racket makes contact with the ball, when a player is going to double-fault; and antiquities experts who recognize, at first glance, a piece of work as a fraud (even when it is an masterful replica). Blink is about the spontaneous, instantaneous impressions and decisions made when people meet someone new or are confronted with a complex situation, and it effectively addresses the three tasks the author defines in the book's introduction: 1) to convince the reader that decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately; 2) when people should trust their instincts, and when to be wary of them, and 3) to convince the reader that his/her snap judgments and first impressions can be educated and controlled.