Heart Attack – DaneCobain.com

Colin Dexter – The Jewel That Was Ours | Review

Title: The Jewel That Was Ours

Author: Colin Dexter

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 278

Rating: 8/10

Colin Dexter – The Jewel That Was Ours

In many ways, this started out as an anachronism for me. It says on the cover that it’s “The New Inspector Morse”, but I came to this after I’d already read the last book in the series. The reason for that is pretty simple – I picked this book up a little while back and didn’t enjoy it, and so I didn’t finish it and gave my copy away.

Then I read the rest of the Morse series, and so I realised that I had to give it another chance. And I’m glad I did, although I do stand by the fact that it started out slowly and didn’t seem like much fun. I had the same problem this time round.

But have no fear, once you get into it, you’re in for an exciting ride. It’s also noteworthy because to begin with, we’re not even sure whether this is a murder. It could just be that someone had a heart attack and someone else decided to rob them rather than calling for help. But you’ll find out all about that when you trudge through the initial set-up.

After that you’re in for a rollercoaster ride that challenges your suppositions and keeps you guessing right up until the very end. Because of that slow start, I wouldn’t say that this is one of the best Morse novels, but I’d say it’s one of the better ones. I’d recommend it in a heartbeat if you’ve read another one of the Morse books and enjoyed it.

Colin Dexter

Click here to buy The Jewel That Was Ours.

Malcolm Gladwell – Blink | Review

Title: Blink

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 280

Rating: 10/10

Malcolm Gladwell – Blink

This book was actually incredible; mind-blowing, even. It was also my first Malcolm Gladwell book, and you can colour me impressed – I thought it was excellent, and I’m already putting some of its lessons into practice, and some of them were even things that I’d subconsciously (ha!) adopted.

The idea here is simple to grasp and difficult to master – essentially, we must learn to harness our gut feelings, but only in certain circumstances. Sometimes, our gut feeling is right; at other times, it’s as wrong as when white cops shoot an unarmed black guy because they mistook his wallet for a gun. But the thing is, you can train yourself to ignore extraneous stimuli, and to make quick, snap decisions using only the information that you need, like when doctors determine whether someone is having a heart attack right in the here and now, rather than based upon a lifetime of risk factors.

It’s hard to classify this – is it a business book, or is it a book on psychology? Perhaps it’s both, and who cares? Either way, it’s a great read to expand your horizons and to learn new things about how we act, as a species. Plus, if you’re trying to sell a product or a service, there are plenty of useful lessons too, like how blind taste tests don’t always work, and how packaging can change our first impressions of things, and therefore our attitudes towards the product. It’s compelling, it’s cleverly written, and somehow, despite being about a non-fictional subject, it’s a lot of fun. Great work, Malcolm Gladwell.