Every conscious moment the human mind confronts a perpetual stream of decision-making processes with infinite possibilities and outcomes. In fact, an individual is tasked to make 33,000 decisions throughout the course of a day. That equates to roughly 2,000 decisions every hour—and one decision every 2 seconds. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking explores the mystique behind those first 2 seconds.

The novelty of Malcolm Gladwell’s phenomenal #1 million-copy bestseller book rests in his insightful analysis of the revolutionary capacity of our subconscious, all within the proverbial blink of an eye.

As the author of five New York Times best-selling books and one of TIME’s 100 most influential thinkers, world-renowned Gladwell examines decision-making and judgment and how the mind unconsciously leaps to instant conclusions. As a master of synthesis and radical re-thinking, Gladwell probes into the intricacies of the human mind and unravels theories that challenge conventional views of first impressions.

Moving quickly through a series of fascinating stories, Gladwell seamlessly ties together moving narratives with psychological and neuroscientific studies. He smoothly interweaves riveting anecdotes, creating an entertaining masterpiece that is nothing short of memorizing. Gladwell possesses the rare gift to connect seemingly disparate events and spin them into page-turning stories that promise to capture the attention of any reader.

Incorporating in-depth social science research, Blink elaborates on the human capacity to sift huge amounts of information, isolate critical details, blend data, and systematically arrive at astonishingly rapid conclusions. The mind derives these snap decisions from the thinnest slices of experience that simultaneously merge an amalgam of beliefs, attitudes, values, experiences, and education. These shocking snap judgments — so-called “thin slicing” — highjack reasoning and define our decision-making capabilities by finding patterns in situations from narrow slices of experience.

“We thin-slice because we have to,” explains Gladwell, “And we come to rely on that ability because there are lots of hidden fists out there, lots of situations where careful attention to the details of a very thin slice, even for no more than a second or two, can tell us an awful lot.”

With real-life scenarios, the reader travels around the world and across disciplines, engaging intriguing phenomena of art, music, police shootings, politics, marriage, consumer testing, war, and athletics. Through a variety of examples, Gladwell illustrates the applicability of rapid cognition and creates a timely relevance to an audience of diverse backgrounds and experiences.

By illuminating the innate backstage potential within the human mind, Blink offers an enlightening vision into the way we can make sense of the world and interpret the preponderance of clues surrounding us.

“We are innately suspicious of this kind of rapid cognition,” Gladwell observes, “We assume that long, methodical investigation yields more reliable conclusions than a snap judgment. But in fact, decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately.”

However, Gladwell also devotes considerable attention to the deceptive nature in these snap judgments based on predetermined stereotypes. He distinguishes good ones from bad ones and highlights how our instincts can sometimes lead us astray. With the unpredictability of human instinct, Blink challenges readers to balance their own rapid judgments and conscious deliberations to effectively harness one’s decision-making potential.

With resounding praise, I recommend Blink to anyone ready for a captivating read presented by a gifted storyteller and master of social science. If you have yet to learn how to trust your own judgment, I encourage you to consider mine: Read Blink, and let it reshape your world.