Blink: The power of thinking without thinking by Malcom Gladwell

 This book is utterly interesting if you ever wondered a bit about the human psyche. Blink is about first impressions and the fact that our subconscious works about 8 times faster than our conscious mind processes information and gives a logical decision to us. The book argues that we make snap decisions all the time and sometimes they are valid and quite valuable and other times they are not.

In case of extreme stressful situations our subconscious turns to pure instinct and we become temporary autistic relying on basic prejudices or simple actions that try to take us out of harm's way. On the other hand we use blink all the time when we relate to other people by understanding their emotions and  actions. I did refrain from adding "words" due to the fact that some might say something but are betrayed by their facial expressions, even tiny, milisecond-short muscle spasms.

Blink, apparently, can draw draw a line between life and death, but to use it at its true value it requires lots of practice and vast experience in the field ( eg. A doctor who has to make snap decisions in order to save someone's life, or a policeman who can either pull the trigger on a scared suspect or simply to approach him without the use of gratuitous violence).

This book was an eye opener and it gave me some insights on how my own mind works. After reading it I had been compelled to look at people's faces and to try to read their minds without actually hearing what they were conversing about. It is a gem for a layman in the field of psychology. I definitely recommend it.