(Note: This is a re-post with minor edits. I once posted this summary in my old blog in 2006, which does not exist now).
Book Title: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Author: Malcolm Gladwell)
This book tells about the ability of some highly skilled people to make snap judgments. They know things (e.g. quality of things) only by looking or hearing or sensing in a very short duration of time (seconds or even fractions of a second).
The author explained that the process of thinking in such cases is done in subconscious level. Art experts can sense instantly and accurately that art objects they see are fake ones (although mostly they cannot provide good explanations for their opinions) . Vic Braden, the famous tennis player/coach, at times can know almost perfectly that a tennis player is about to make a double fault when the player is about to do the first serve, although desperately fails to explain why he can sense that.
The author gives an entertaining story of such cases, to show us how our minds work. He also write about studies in psychology which show that we have prejudices/assumptions/associations on unconscious level that can reflect in our actions when such actions are done unconsciously; those unconscious actions may be the opposites of the ones we would choose consciously. So snap judgments are not always good.
The book doesn’t really teach us on how to think without thinking (to accurate snap judgments). For me it is an obvious fact that experienced persons will have those kind of abilities, and some exceptional individuals have the best abilities.
Books, Arts and Beyond 