Blink: Beauty of Snap Decisions
Cameron Lyons
Alesia Williams
Eng La Com AP
16 August 2009
The Beauty of Snap Decisions
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell embodies the entire subject of the book “Blink,” in both the title of the book, and the phrase “thin-slicing,” which is a person ability to accurately gauge what is important from a very narrow period of time. To put it simply, impulsive decisions can often be more reliable than well thought out decisions. Gladwell provided the reader with multiple examples throughout each chapter of the book to back up his thesis. My goal is to reconstruct each of these examples/arguments in a more convenient manner for the reader, to support Gladwell’s argument. Come with me on a journey into the world of snap decisions.
Gladwell utilized rhetorical strategies to construct his argument throughout each chapter of his book. For those who are unsure of what rhetorical strategies, they are listed as follow:
Exemplification - Any additional facts, statistics, personal experiences, or interview quotations that can be used to help the writer accomplish their task.
Description - The writer’s perceptions of a person, place or thing.
Narration - The writer’s personal recount of any event that somehow directly ties to or pertains to the subject at hand.
Process Analysis - The simple explanation of how to do something, or how something happens.
Comparison and Contrast – Viewing the similarities and the differences between two items.
Division and Classification - The division of information into groups or categories.
Definition – The explanation of terms used in the writer’s essay.
Cause and Effect Analysis – The analysis of what caused a specific event, and the effect that it had on a person, place, or thing.
Argumentation – The ability to convince others through means of reason.
Gladwell used these nine above strategies to convince the readers that “snap decisions” are in fact better than those of well planned or strategized decisions.
Alesia Williams
Eng La Com AP
16 August 2009
The Beauty of Snap Decisions
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell embodies the entire subject of the book “Blink,” in both the title of the book, and the phrase “thin-slicing,” which is a person ability to accurately gauge what is important from a very narrow period of time. To put it simply, impulsive decisions can often be more reliable than well thought out decisions. Gladwell provided the reader with multiple examples throughout each chapter of the book to back up his thesis. My goal is to reconstruct each of these examples/arguments in a more convenient manner for the reader, to support Gladwell’s argument. Come with me on a journey into the world of snap decisions.
Gladwell utilized rhetorical strategies to construct his argument throughout each chapter of his book. For those who are unsure of what rhetorical strategies, they are listed as follow:
Exemplification - Any additional facts, statistics, personal experiences, or interview quotations that can be used to help the writer accomplish their task.
Description - The writer’s perceptions of a person, place or thing.
Narration - The writer’s personal recount of any event that somehow directly ties to or pertains to the subject at hand.
Process Analysis - The simple explanation of how to do something, or how something happens.
Comparison and Contrast – Viewing the similarities and the differences between two items.
Division and Classification - The division of information into groups or categories.
Definition – The explanation of terms used in the writer’s essay.
Cause and Effect Analysis – The analysis of what caused a specific event, and the effect that it had on a person, place, or thing.
Argumentation – The ability to convince others through means of reason.
Gladwell used these nine above strategies to convince the readers that “snap decisions” are in fact better than those of well planned or strategized decisions.
Cited: 1)Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink. New York City: Little, Brown and Company, 2005. 2)Shulman, Laura. "Rhetorical Strategies for Essay Writing". August 17, 2009 .