Discussion at Books Inc. (Nov. 12)

Fifteen or so people joined the discussion of Blink at Books Inc., Sunday afternoon. Most had read the book, or had nearly finished; but a few attendees were curious about the Mountain View Reads project. We had a spirited and far ranging discussion, drawing from life experiences in the classroom, the Red Cross, and sales, along with other areas; and I think that everyone who attended contributed something that enriched the talk. Although touching on most of Malcolm Gladwell’s points, our conversation centered on the chapters in Blink dealing with bias, stereotypes, and, especially, the IAT, or Implicit Association Test. We considered the different strategies put forward by Gladwell for overcoming, or at least questioning, our biases, and tied them in to our own experiences: from helping school children make positive associations with their backgrounds, to deepening our own experiences with diverse cultures, to taking advantage of other peoples’ unexamined associations, such as dressing the part of an authority with a hardhat and vest for the Red Cross. The chapter on the IAT is one of the most challenging and disturbing in the book, and I found it refreshing to have such a frank conversation that didn’t shy away from difficult emotions.

Thanks to everyone who attended,
Eric Petersen, Books Inc. Manager