Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Blink

I listed (on my iPod) to Malcolm Gladwell talk about one of the chapters in his new book, Blink.  He talked about how people make choices and it was every bit as interesting as his first book, The Tipping Point.  For example, one of the facts he shared, and backed up with good, easy to understand examples, was that people will choose the simpler option if they have to explain their choice, even if it's not the one they really wanted.  He told a story about college kids that got to pick out a free poster.  Those that had to explain why they like the poster picked simple pictures of kittens.  Those that didn't picked abstract art.  Two months later those that had picked the art were still happy with their free poster.  Those that picked the kittens were not!  His rationale was that they didn't have the language to describe why they liked the abstract art so they picked the easier option.

You can download the talk for free at ITConversations.