Summary Of Blink By Malcolm Gladwell

All in all, Gladwell helps paint a picture of what’s said to be behind the locked door of the subconscious. He uses repetition and rhetorical questions to stress how thin-slicing plays a crucial part in our world. The power of our minds are limitless but Gladwell is still searching for the key to unlocking the truth of our unconscious

He asks, “How are human beings connected? Do we all belong to separate worlds, operating simultaneously but autonomously, so that the links between any two people, anywhere in the world are few and distant? Or are we all bound up together in a grand, interlocking web? (Page 34)” Gladwell doesn’t actually expect readers to come up with an answer, but he does realize that readers wouldn’t consider these questions had he not put the questions in their heads to start with. By doing this he allows his audience to form their own opinions on the questions asked before he reveals what answers the questions were originally designed to expose. Gladwell effectively uses rhetorical questions to get the audience interested early on, therefore making the information given in the selection more important.

An ineffective device used by Gladwell was his use of repetition of evidence and failure to acknowledge counterexamples by forcing the reader into thinking that Gladwell’s theory is the only one possible to be correct. The lack of acknowledgment towards counterexamples thrusts the audience into thinking that Gladwell’s opinion is the only viable one. “Philip Norman, who wrote the Beatles biography”, “nonstop show, hour after hour”, “Here is John Lennon”, and “playing all night long” are examples of repetition of evidence because the author already established that the

Rhetorical questions appear throughout the book, allowing Gladwell to emphasize key points of his message and to interact with the reader in a way that they understand. Rhetorical questions are often used as transitions which introduce the next concept. While wrapping up his chapter about prejudice from subconscious

To start with, Gladwell uses ethos, an appeal to ethics, as a device to effectively explain how

As Gladwell conducts his argument, he writes with confidence and authority, which expresses his passion and knowledge about the subject. Gladwell’s poise throughout the essay, combined with his resume, establishes his credibility and constructs a rhetorically effective argument. Being a best-selling author as well as a professional

Gladwell carefully constructs his argument by offering the real life story of Bernie Goetz. Gladwell uses this example in order to provide a

Furthermore, Gladwell’s tone and style of writing throughout Outliers contributes to his arguments’ effectiveness. The manner in which Gladwell tells the stories in relation to each individual claim is brilliant. Not only is the writing tone of the author informative, thoughtful, and compelling, but it is also frequently conversational. Many times in Outliers, Gladwell seems to be speaking directly to his readers. The author achieves this conversational tone primarily by asking questions within his arguments. In The 10,000-Hour Rule chapter, Gladwell applies this tone when he asks, “What’s ten years?” The author is challenging the reader to determine what significance ten years has in relation to success. Unknowingly challenged, the reader searches for an explanation within his or her own thoughts before continuing reading. The author answers his own question, “It [ten years] is roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice” (41). Gladwell also uses a conversational style of writing by including a personal touch within the epilogue, A Jamaican Story. “That is the story of my mother’s path to success,” writes the author (272). With this statement, Gladwell is opening up a personal revelation to the reader in a way

Meanwhile, ethos allow the reader to view the author as a trustworthy source and builds the author's credibility. An author can do this in a number of different ways, such as using other credible sources to their advantage or by building common ground with the reader. It is especially important for Gladwell’s audience to trust him, as he is trying to convince them that what they believe about success is wrong.

Gladwell used Aristotle’s techniques of rhetoric, by appealing to ethos, pathos, and logos successfully to further persuade his audience of his argument. First, Gladwell established his character by displaying himself as an intellectual, honest, and of good intentions through his writing style and word choice. Secondly, Gladwell masterfully used pathos to emotionally influenced his audience from their interests and concerns about success to make his argument appeal to his specific audience. Third, Gladwell utilized logos to make his argument strong without emotional and trustworthy factors interfering, and his case stood on its own. Gladwell also mentioned problems and his offered solutions which would alter his thesis of success through a hockey example that is trying to fix the age gap concerning development, “We could set up two or even three hockey leagues, divided up by month of birth. Let the players develop on separate tracks and then pick all-star teams,” (33). As a society, we must change the pattern of success and prove Gladwell’s thesis wrong; we can help one another to be the community required so everyone can prosper and create a sense of equity. Through Gladwell’s efficient use of establishing an image to

Gladwell presents an interesting concept of “thin slicing” I definitely recommend this book for others to read. I enjoyed reading this book. Malcolm Gladwell was right when he stated on the back cover of the book, that reading this book would change the way I understood every decision I made. It has changed the way I think about making decisions.

Gladwell uses strong anecdotes and studies to prove all the claims he presents throughout his book. He explains he evidence well and ties everything back to the point he is trying to prove. This helps further understand Gladwell’s argument. But, even though Gladwell uses multiple anecdotes and studies to support his claims, the problem that is faced is that he merely suggests his sources are correct but never

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell tells of many people and events that had disastrous or incredible outcomes because of the power of the subconscious to make decisions that the conscious mind is unaware of. Throughout Blink, Gladwell presents many ways to show that the mind and body give off hints to one’s true feelings in the “blink” of an eye. One of his many compelling arguments is the idea of “priming,” while one of his less compelling arguments is the idea of anyone having too much information to make a correct decision. Priming is such a compelling argument because it can account for such a large change in mindset. However, the idea of having too much information is misleading and confusing. Both arguments have the potential to change how one looks at their own

The sixth chapter of the book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell, focuses on the shooting of Amadou Diallo. Amadou Diallo, who was standing outside his apartment, was approached by plainclothes police officers. In fear, Amadou Diallo ran way while the officers chased him. Amadou Diallo took out his wallet, however, the officers believed it was a gun and shot him. I believe the shooting of Amadou Diallo was more based on the police officers’ unconscious racial bias than their inability to read facials cues. They failed to pick up Amadou Diallo’s facial cues that he was in distressed because the police officers were more cautious of him being a dangerous criminal. According to the officer, Amadou Diallo matched

Having established the fact that rapid cognition is not always as accurate as one would want it to be, Gladwell now goes on to the topic of reading the minds of others just by looking