An art expert sees a ten-million-dollar sculpture
and instantly spots it’s a fake

A marriage analyst knows within minutes
whether a couple will stay together

A fire-fighter suddenly senses he has to
get out of a blazing building

A speed dater clicks with the right person…

Cool. You on the other hand are left scratching your butt wondering why did you ever part with 250 rupees for Malcom Gladwell’s “blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking.” By page 18, I was wondering why the book did not have the more apt “blink: The Power of Forgetting without Screaming” for its title. If you absolutely hate someone, this book is a very strong contender to take your vengeance out with – just gift it to him/her.

The book does start off with a well-intended three-point objective on snap judgements; none of them are met at the end. Past that, the book describes – in immaculate detail – bizarre experiments in psychology. You get to meet weird researchers, professors, curators, police officers, politicians, and even a tennis coach (who can guess twenty-out-of-twenty times when a tennis player would double fault, but can’t explain his magical powers – as if it’s of use to someone). At one point, you’ll be forced to convince yourself that you are a racist (after taking a test!).

Eeeeeks! Yuck!

Verdict: If you do want to commit a mistake, find a better way to commit one rather than buying this book. I can gift you my copy!

Says the New York Times, “Trust my snap judgement, but this book: you’ll be delighted.” Makes me bring up my unanswered question: “When will we see a book with a negative review on its cover?”