48-Hour Book Challenge: Update #3

I've read another 4 hours now (3 yesterday evening and 1 this morning), for a total of 13 hours. There are still 8 hours left in my 48-hour challenge, but I have to squeeze some exercise and chores (maybe even a shower and meals) in there as well. In those 4 hours, I read Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.

Blink is about how people make decisions, and it contrasts the decisions made from "snap judgments" and those made from prolonged, rational thought. The book is mainly a collection of anecdotes. I'd read Gladwell's Outliers earlier, and there is similar criticism of both, that Gladwell is not providing original research, that he doesn't show the whole story, that some of the conclusions are flawed. However, I enjoyed both books immensely. Whether or not I agreed with every conclusion he draws, he made me think about details I'd missed and re-examine assumptions I've made about the way I perceive the world.

I loved, in particular, the closing story about trombone player, Abbie Conant, who faced an enormous struggle in the classical music world because she was a woman. The whole story, as written by her husband, is here.