Malcolm Gladwell's 'Blink' Applied to the Stock Market

Aaron Pressman has written a review of 'Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking' by Malcolm Gladwell. His review differs from most of the other reviews I've read. I guess that's mainly because he's relating the book to investing:

Two important lessons for investors leap to mind, though Gladwell himself doesn't discuss finance much beyond a brief anecdote about George Soros. First, be wary of people explaining their success. And second, while intuition is a snap judgment, the basis for such accurate quick decisions often comes from years of experience and hard work.

An anecdote in a chapter called "The Locked Door: The Secret Life of Snap Decisions" provides the first lesson for market players. People with the ability to make intuitive decisions with great accuracy in a particular context -- such as a top-notch bond trader or fighter pilot -- cannot truly explain how they are making those decisions. The subconscious, where intuition lives, is just that -- below the level of conscious thought. [read the rest...]

I've been debating over whether or not to read this book for a while now. I thoroughly enjoyed Gladwell's previous book, 'The Tipping Point', and while I'm sure it will be a good read I don't think it's of much use in regard to the stock market. Perhaps, as Pressman suggests, it will make a good cautionary tale for investors. Duru, who passed this article along to me, thinks that it would be interesting to compare/contrast lessons from 'Blink' with Mark Douglas' excellent (and essential) 'Trading in the Zone'. I certainly agree with that.