Listen free for 30 days

  • Blink

  • The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
  • Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,189 ratings)

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Blink cover art

Blink

Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Try for $0.00

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.99

Buy Now for $25.99

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

The landmark book that has revolutionized the way we understand leadership and decision making - from number-one best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.

In his landmark best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant, in the blink of an eye, that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work, in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing", filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology and displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

©2005 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks

What the critics say

2005 Quill Award Nominee

"Gladwell's groundbreaking explication of a key aspect of human nature is enlightening, provocative, and great fun to read." (Booklist)

"Entertaining and illuminating." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Blink

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    868
  • 4 Stars
    241
  • 3 Stars
    58
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    781
  • 4 Stars
    138
  • 3 Stars
    25
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    683
  • 4 Stars
    206
  • 3 Stars
    45
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    9

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting and well told, but.

As usual, Malcolm Gladwell delivers a phenomenal audiobook. I'd just read Talking to Strangers right before starting, and I was really excited.

But. Gladwell's story suffers from two things; one is spaghetti storytelling, as some stories struggle to corroborate one another and near the 2/3rds, you feel the pace suffer because the story you're being told with great detail doesn't match with the theory behind it. The case of the police shooting, for example, had little to do with "mind reading", nor to autism, not really. However all three are presented as illustrating the same phenomenon when they clearly don't, and you just kind of sit there listening, wondering when he'll change course.

The second, maybe worse, is scientific myopia. In other words, he often presents evidence in a somewhat biased and "pop psychology" way to support what he's saying, and it made me cringe once or twice. Doubly worse when he contradicts his points made in his other work!

I wouldn't trust what he's presenting, and that hurts the book a lot. Despite that, though, damn good book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Hard to cross reference his research, read chomsky

He mentions many things in research with detail, but hard to find the source on his study, let alone his contact information is hard to find as well. He pretty much goes really detail in an idea, it sounds legit, and interesting, but its not really scientfic. Most of his work excludes and skips scientific reasoning and research.

The more you speak about something, eventually it seems to self validate itself, but in actually it's not.

In all his work he tries to skip scientific part, but makes it seem like its scientific. He creates an illusion in his writting that its very scientific. His style of writting is pretty much a guy who read a bunch of stuff and is explaining in his own words. But then again some things he mentions, he mentions in detail and even google can't find some of his gathered sources. I am more curious how got to the top of his field now.

His work is an illusion, he is pretty much social engineering interest in people to like his writtting. That is something more important to read from him, how to social engineer. I hope he creates a book like this in the near future, because he is evidently really good at it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolute insight

This is my 2nd Malcolm Gladwell book. I'm going to buy all the rest after this.

Blink shows you as many sides of the internal processing problem as you could have.

How does internalized racism or sexism work? It's not how either political party would popularly have you believe.

It goes far beyond politics though, and gives you a way to intuitively think about how your brain comes to snap judgments, and what you can do to make those judgments better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Great book to read before the rest

I loved the book and it was great to listen to in the car and walking around in my headphones. If you’re just getting introduced to Malcom Gladwell then I recommend this as your first read and then to continue with the rest. If you’re looking to better yourself and open your mind then these are the books for you.
#Audible1

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Malcolm does it Again


You need to read this book, if you don’t you’re missing out! Malcolm finds the most amazing studies to support arguments on issues that are at the core of our function as human beings.

#Audible1

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A beautiful book read as only Malcolm Gladwell can

Malcolm Gladwell has a gift for observing the world in ways most of us don't...until we read his books which unlock new potential in our human interactions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I loved listening to this audio book. It really is a captivating story of our innate ability to trust our subconscious mind. Tapping into that inherent knowing has helped me greatly in my life and it's amazing how it's told through this book. I would highly recommend reading it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another great book by Malcom Gladwell

I read Mr. Gladwell's book "Outliers" and enjoyed it. So when a friend recommended "Blink" I was quick to get the book.

This book explains why we know what we know, when we know it. Not on a concious level, but subconsciously within the first 2 seconds of a new experience.

If you have considered intuition, gut feeling or instinct to be one of the decision making tools you employ, I recommend reading this book.

Well reasoned, well written and an easy enjoyable flow.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Quit the music

For the love of God stop putting music in your books. It's distracting and not needed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Tom
  • 2023-12-31

Fantastic book

Malcolm Gladwell has an incredible story telling ability. As with his other books, it is an engaging listen, that is both thought provoking, and enlightening.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!