Book Review-Blink, Outliers and The Scarlet Letter

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book was great. I really liked "The Tipping Point" But I think this one is even better. He talks about what our mind can see and interpret and think in just the blink of an eye. Why some people can "thin slice" a situation and recognize a distrustful person or a fake piece of artwork. It also talks about reading faces and how to tell if someone is lying. It's really amazing.

However, I think the best part was the section on married couples and how one scientist can tell with 90% accuracy if someone will be married in 15 years. And it all comes down to one word: Contempt. Do we hold our significant other in contempt? Wow, that was a shocker to me, because I know that I can feel this way. Like Marcelo isn't pulling his weight around here. And that's a sure way to put a wedge in your marraige.

By the way, Contempt is defined: the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.

Now look at the definition of Enmity: a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism.

That's so similar it's scary. We know that pride is also known as enmity towards God. So basically your marriage will be brought down by pride and you thinking you are better than your husband.

Ok!! I have lots to work on!! See you all in couples Therapy!!

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is his newest book and it's great to learn about why some people advance and others don't. And very amazing to see that the year you were born but also the MONTH you were born has a lot to do with it!!

Also, your background has a MAJOR part to deal with your success rate. If you were Jewish growing up in New York, your success rate and possibilities and opportunities will be much more different than say someone growing up in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. And not because of why you would think!! It's all based on where you originate, your history, your family background. The "old country" so to speak. So interesting.

The part that really stuck with me was this whole section on Korean Air and why their planes kept crashing. Now I don't consider myself a scared person flying. I mean, we all fly all the time, right? But this book SERIOUSLY made me think about flying on other planes in other countries. Basically Korean Air kept having plane crashes and they couldn't figure it out. They knew that the pilots were well trained and that they weren't flying in any different conditions than others all around the world. And finally they figured that it was because the society of Asian (and ESPECIALLY South Korean) cultures is to pay very high respect to your authority. So what was happening was that the co-captain would see something, but wouldn't speak up, or might only speak up once. But he's position is one step lower, so he can't over step his boundaries. Once they taught these pilots HOW they need to communicate with each other (and with air traffic controllers in super busy airports like JFK) there rate went down dramatically.

This book was amazing. You should read all his books. They will make you smarter. I promise.


The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My review

I know, everyone reads this in High School. But I really wanted to read it again. For one reason, we never read the first part of it, the part titled "The Custom-House" and now I know why!!! It kinda just blabs on about the "author" and how he finds this chest with the letter in it. But before that, he goes on and on about the house, and the station, and who he hangs out with. Totally irrelevant to the story, and you can TELL he knows it. Because in this version of the book there is a forward by the author where he ASKS people to make sure to read it. So he KNOWS it will be brushed aside. As well it probably should be.

But this book really is great. It's so simple, a very fast read (around 200 pages) and just kinda tragic in an interesting way. I don't think it's trying to tell us that the loss of virtue is bad. But rather that lying to ourselves and hiding our true selves will ultimately destroy us and everyone around us. We can see this in both the Minister's character and in Hester's estranged husband. Very upsetting.

Anyway this book had LOTS of commentary and pictures and essays about life in the colonies when the book is set(around 1649) and life during the time the book was written (1850). There is a great excerpt from a book by William Cobbett called "Advice to Young Men" where it tells men what to look for in a wife. This is what it says:

"The things which you ought to desire in a wife are. 1. Chastity; 2. sobriety; 3. industry; 4. frugality; 5. cleanliness; 6. knowledge of domestic affairs; 7. good temper; 8. beauty."

Isn't that amazing!? They put Beauty last. Chastity was SO important to them. A girl could be a whiz in the kitchen, budget like pro, laugh at your jokes and be the best looking girl in town. But if she had slept with another guy? SHE'S OUT!! But that's how it was.

What about today? Do you think the order has changed? I think it depends on the person. If it were my husband I think he would put them in this order:


Industry
knowledge of domestic affairs
Chastity
good temper
sobriety
beauty
cleanliness
frugality

But that's my husband. He wants me to be industrious and moving towards a goal (ANY GOAL) at all times. Which is good, right? What do you think your husband's order for the perfect woman is? And are you that order? (I'm not anywhere near my husband's order, by the way. my "good temper" and "knowledge of domestic affairs" are the highest, while my cleanliness is lowest)

If you haven't read this book in a while you should. There's definitely a reason they call it a classic.