BLINK, by Malcom Gladwell

Lively and thought provoking. Not quite as seminal for me as his other well known work - "The Tipping Point" but still very engaging. Main topic of the book is that our so called 'Instant snap judgements" about things or people are not really random, that there is a whole unconscious intelligence behind our first impressions. Trusting our first impression, if we are truly expert at something - thus is often a good thing. But the first impression can also hold unconscious biases, as Gladwell demonstrates in his discussion of musical auditions. Until these started being conducted behind a screen, women were often eliminated from consideration simply because there was a perception that they could not perform with equal vigor to men. The lesson to be learned from this book is to both appreciate and double check what it is that drives our first impressions.

THE WAY BACK TO PARADISE, By Joseph M. Felser

I bought this book because it had an intriguing subtitle - "Restoring the Balance between Magic and Reason." I expected the book to talk about how we need to balance intuition with logic and give some insights. But, unfortunately I have little good to say about this work. It was tedious. It droned on. I can best describe it as a lengthy, self-absorbed rambling of a man who finds his own neurosis to be fascinating and finds symbolism and metaphor in every one of his own dreams, encounters and phobias. And all this talk about Snow and White and Rabbits. Give me a break Sorry, but it was just plain boring.