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On a recent visit from my parents I noticed that my dad was reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. I had heard of the book before, but had never gotten around to reading it. I had even watched a video of a speech he gave at TED once, but hadn’t read any of his books or articles. When I saw a copy of it in the clearance section of a book store I snagged it and did not regret the purchase one bit.

If you haven’t encountered Gladwell before, he writes about a wide range of topics, but basically he is intrigued with discovering why we think what we think or do what we do when we can’t really define the reasons to ourselves. The thing that I like most about Gladwell’s writing is how he uses stories of other people to make his points. You see how these particular people tackled a problem or viewed a situation and then he explains what is going on and how that applies to everyday life. I was pointed to a new Gladwell speech yesterday in my RSS feeds which I enjoyed immensely. If you haven’t heard him speak or read anything by him you really should. I made a small list to help you get started.

Websites

gladwell.com — contains links to his many articles for the New Yorker.
gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/ — his blog

Books

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Outliers: The Story of Success

Videos

At TED — a talk about how a man changed the spaghetti sauce industry.
So Predictable — from the New Yorker Conference on engineering hits in music and movies.
Genius: 2012 — again from the New Yorker Conference on the different types of “genius.”
Outliers: The Story of Success — from the AIGA Business and Design Conference on how to be successful in anything.