Blink
This post really should be about Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, but I haven’t gotten that far yet.
I got distracted, which is a pretty common occurrence in my world, especially when I walk into a bookstore. I’ve noticed that as I get older (although age may have absolutely nothing to do with it) I become more schizophrenic about my reading (and writing for that matter). Sometimes I will read a book straight through, only stopping to eat, sleep and go to work. Other times I can’t seem to stay focused on any book for more than a few chapters.
Pattern Recognition I read pretty much straight through, in part because I spent large blocks of time trapped in an airplane in the space of about five days, but I haven’t really focused on anything since I finished it. But I digress from my distraction, another common occurrence in my world.
Yesterday I wandered into a bookstore café to eat my sushi lunch, do some reading and/or writing, and perhaps look for a book by Lawrence Lessig (www.lessig.org), who should be the subject of his own entry in the near future. I never got around to locating Lessig’s book because I blinked.
I have run across any number of references to Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the wildly successful The Tipping Point, which has also come to my attention on more than one occasion though I have yet to read or acquire a copy. Apparently Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a best seller, which means that the hardcover is handily discounted to the point of costing about as much as a trade paperback.
So I picked up a copy and started reading the introduction. I found myself reading about how sometimes I just "know" things. I look at a situation, and before I know it, my brain has done a complete analysis and assessment, but while it all just makes sense to me, I am hard pressed to explain it to anyone else. I’ve always thought the ability was more than a little weird, but according to Gladwell, it’s quite common and natural, but people don’t always consciously recognize it.
Interesting. Further bulletins as events warrant.
I got distracted, which is a pretty common occurrence in my world, especially when I walk into a bookstore. I’ve noticed that as I get older (although age may have absolutely nothing to do with it) I become more schizophrenic about my reading (and writing for that matter). Sometimes I will read a book straight through, only stopping to eat, sleep and go to work. Other times I can’t seem to stay focused on any book for more than a few chapters.
Pattern Recognition I read pretty much straight through, in part because I spent large blocks of time trapped in an airplane in the space of about five days, but I haven’t really focused on anything since I finished it. But I digress from my distraction, another common occurrence in my world.
Yesterday I wandered into a bookstore café to eat my sushi lunch, do some reading and/or writing, and perhaps look for a book by Lawrence Lessig (www.lessig.org), who should be the subject of his own entry in the near future. I never got around to locating Lessig’s book because I blinked.
I have run across any number of references to Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the wildly successful The Tipping Point, which has also come to my attention on more than one occasion though I have yet to read or acquire a copy. Apparently Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking is a best seller, which means that the hardcover is handily discounted to the point of costing about as much as a trade paperback.
So I picked up a copy and started reading the introduction. I found myself reading about how sometimes I just "know" things. I look at a situation, and before I know it, my brain has done a complete analysis and assessment, but while it all just makes sense to me, I am hard pressed to explain it to anyone else. I’ve always thought the ability was more than a little weird, but according to Gladwell, it’s quite common and natural, but people don’t always consciously recognize it.
Interesting. Further bulletins as events warrant.
posted by minervasowl at 11:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home