*blink*

i just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink". personally, i liked it even more than tipping point - and tipping point is already on my list of favorite books. i guess i'm just simply fascinated with thinking about human interactions and communication.

over the past few weeks, i've been meeting a ton of people and going through a lot of interviews. i've always had a "gut feel" about people i meet and now that i've read blink, i'm actually conscious of where that feeling comes from. i'm also weary of scenarios where it might go wrong. hopefully, i can fine tune my abilities and become cognizant of all the snap judgments i make everyday. thin slicing... very cool stuff.

it also made me think about the hundreds of thousands (maybe millions :O) of people who have blinked me. hundreds of people's impressions can be found in my blog's comments and even more across the blogosphere. it's really interesting how certain people focus on some things while others pick up something completely different. the real kicker is, people are so used to making snap judgments about others around the internet that it seems to be almost an involuntary reaction. if you're in any sort of profession where you need to interact with a large number of people, i would say this book is a crucial read - if you can't tell, i'm a huge gladwell evangelist now :)

next up is "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. this book has been heavily recommended to me by both colleagues at microsoft and people around the blogosphere. i'm not much of a history nut, but everyone assures me i'll enjoy this book anyways.

someone also recommended "Disciplined Minds", a book about how the corporate system affects its employees. sounds like an interesting read given the events i've gone through, but i'm curious as to whether it really applies in the internet/tech industry. anyone have opinions on this book?