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Think!: Why Crucial Decisions Can't Be Made in the Blink of an Eye | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael R. Legault
Publisher: Threshold Editions
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $6.38
You Save: $7.62 (54%)
New (35) Used (14) from $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  71 reviews
Sales Rank: 38451
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1416531556
Dewey Decimal Number: 158
EAN: 9781416531555
ASIN: 1416531556
Publication Date: October 24, 2006
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Product Description
Outraged by the downward spiral of intellect and culture, Michael LeGault offers the flip side of Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling phenomenon, Blink, which theorized that our best decision-making is done on impulse, without factual knowledge or critical analysis. If bestselling books are advising us to not think, LeGault argues, it comes as no surprise that sharp, incisive reasoning has become a lost art in the daily life of people everywhere. Somewhere along the line, the Age of Reason morphed into the Age of Emotion; this systemic erosion is costing time, money, jobs, and lives in the twenty-first century, leading to less fulfilment and growing dysfunction. LeGault provides a bold, controversial, and objective analysis of the causes and solutions for some of the biggest problems facing Western culture in the 21st century. From the over- load of reality TV shows and gossip magazines that have rendered curiosity of the mind and spirit obsolete to permissive parenting and low standards that have caused an academic crisis among our children, LeGault looks at all aspects of modern lives and points to how and where it all went wrong.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 66 more reviews...
 Very helpful stimulant toward practical thinking November 21, 2008
I listened to this audio book for two weeks while commuting to work. Most of the theses hold together strongly as I apply them to events going on in our nation now, two 2 years after its publication. For example, I see more clearly how the metastasis of man-made global warming notions within our public policy agenda is an assault on reason and objectivity. Another example is the recent election of a president whose primary strengths are presentation and style rather than delivery or accomplishment. The populace seems to have overlaid his lack of substance with their imagining of what treats they want the government to bestow upon them as well as their non-critical incorporation of the negative world-view fashioned by the dominant consumer media. It's also alarming that a recent poll shows the majority of college students don't understand the most basic principles of our government (like 'what are the three branches of goverment?').
I have also listened to the audio book Blink (and read the book Guns, Germs and Steel) and I find LeGault's depiction of these to be spot-on. The initial ideas presented in Blink have an appeal because of their cleverness, but there is no application for them; they don't lead to anything real or constructive. The ideas in Blink do help explain why some events occur (like the police shooting in New York); but the proscriptions Gladwell casts out for applying intuitive thinking don't hold together.
The author of Th!nk presents some elementary concepts of logic, but I would have liked to have heard a bit more.
This book (Th!nk) encourages me think objectively as I respond to what life throws at me; I am motivated to support my opinions with high quality evidence; I see that the most constructive outlook for living is to employ objective discourse with my peers and provide a hopeful example for my children.
This book is not perfect but it is helpful. The negative reviews here seem to be shallow-minded and prove the hostility that can be engendered when someone presents a challenge to change and goes against the main-stream mindset that the highest priorty in life is to feel good, rather than to exert yourself to be good.
 Complete waste of time reading this book November 6, 2008
This book is poorly organized and contains no useful information. Unless you want to understand why people should have commonsense there is no reason to get this book.
Critical Thinking instead of Intuitive Blinking October 31, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Is America losing its ability to think? If, for arguments sake, we define thinking as the use of knowledge and reasoning to solve problems and plan and produce favorable outcomes, the answer is, apparently, yes." ~ pg. 5
"Think" is a very appropriate title. Many book titles promise but they don't deliver. Whether you agree or disagree with the information presented in this book it is still a brain-stimulating ride. "Think" is divided into three main sections. In part 1 Michael R. LeGault takes on workaholism, the stress epidemic, information overload, mental illness, political correctness, global warming, the negative aspects of TV and computers, newspapers and obesity. Part 2 includes information on the lives of Einstein, Copernicus, Shakespeare, Newton, Edison and Darwin. Part 3 discusses everything from permissive parenting and school textbooks to paranoia and postmodernism.
For the most part I found myself disagreeing as often as agreeing. I disagreed over the notion that "intelligent design has no substantiating evidence." For anyone interested in this subject there is an excellent book called The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God.
There are some interesting facts, like about how more people drown in their own bathtubs than are killed by terrorists in an average year. Since I read a lot more than average it was enlightening to read that forty-year-old Americans only spend about 35 minutes a day reading. Most spend their time watching TV. Since I don't have cable at the moment that could explain the quantity of my reviews. After years of people telling me I'm too positive I was pleased to finally read that critical thinking doesn't have to be negative. It can also include praise.
Michael R. LeGualt brings a voice of sanity to the whole discussion of what it means to be intellectual. He makes a clear and concise case for critical thinking and believes thinking is sexy, inspiring and powerful. At times this book reads like a crash course in our societies modern problems and at other times it is a revealing look at why America is one of the greatest places on earth to live. I can truly say this book was a pleasure to read even if I had a few disagreements on some of the major topics like evolution.
"The technique by which we make good decisions and produce good work is a nuanced and interwoven mental process involving bits of emotion, observation, intuition, and critical reasoning." ~ pg. 12
~The Rebecca Review
 Should be read once a year September 17, 2008
After reading this book, I can no longer watch television without feeling guilty for wasting my time. The author showed me many holes in my college education. He writes to the lay people and the college student.
In fact, I would call this an invitation to graduate school.
If you read this from cover to cover, you will watch less of the idiot box and spend less time on the computer. He ruined television for me. Nice going.......
No critical thinking in Think! August 3, 2008
This book purports to explain why we need to depend more on critical thinking and analysis, but tries to do so without using any critical thinking. Most of LeGault's arguments are unsupported by any kind of evidence except for anecdotes. The author does his best to disprove his thesis with his own writing. Unbelievable!
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