A smart, hilarious parody of Malcolm Gladwell's bestselling Blink.

Stop! Don't think! You already know what this book is about. That is the power of Blank: the power of not actually thinking at all. Using what scientific researchers call 'Extra–Lean Deli Slicing' (or would, if they actually bothered to research it), your brain has already decided whether you're going to like Blank, whether its cover goes with your shirt, and whether it will make you look smart if somebody sees you reading it on the train.

Chances are you and your shirt are both liking it a lot, you're going to buy several copies, and you don't even know why! That's why you've absolutely got to read Blank: to find out why your brain keeps doing these wacky things without your permission. In Blank, a hilarious parody of the No. 1 bestseller it looks eerily like (and sort of rhymes with) and that your brain wisely advised you to just read a review or magazine excerpt about while avoiding the actual book itself, the brilliantly impulsive and slightly irresponsible Noah Tall explains how people as diverse as General Custer, Roy Rogers, a semi–famous rock star, and the entire New York City Police Department either won big or lost miserably as a result of their minds going completely blank.

Being only 83 pages and a virtual bargain on the Amazon marketplace, Blank is a book that you must pick up if you're looking for a short/humorous book. Having not read the original Blink, I found it pretty humorous just as a stand-alone humor book. The author is Noah Tall, who belongs to the organization known as NAMES , the dyslexic branch of MENSA. The book features characters such as chess playing midgets disguised as taunting and obnoxious children, escapees from mental institutions pretending to be Antiques Roadshow experts, or bagpipers who are shot 247 times by the police just to make sure they hit their mark. Some parts of the book are just plain odd but a majority of the parts are amusing and very fun to read through. For a buck or whatever the price is these days on Amazon, pick this book up. You won't regret it for an afternoon pick me up and remember if this stuff doesn't work in real life, as the author says "you're doing it wrong, you MUST be thinking."

:D

-Travis

Another good example proving that anyone can publish a book. Completely humorless.

Some parodies are far better than what they spoof. One example is the pieces James Thurber wrote to send up self-help literature in his wonderful "Let Your Mind Alone." I also found the Harvard Lampoon's "Bored of the Rings" far more entertaining than the soporific and tedious works of Mr. Tolkien, which delighted some of my classmates, all of whom are now dull and philosophically confused yuppies. "Blank" is another such book. I laughed, I cried, the bed shook as I chuckled while reading it. This is truly funny stuff. The author is identified only by his (her) alias and a list of epithets: he claims he belongs to "Names," the dyslexic section of Mensa, etc. Using wild stories that show an acute awareness of modern idiocies (like the one about the dozen cops who fired 246 bullets at a bagpiper they had already run over in their single Crown Victoria, only 193 of which actually had the intended effect), he provides a wild farrago of great ways, like "extra thin deli slicing," to disorder your brain and enjoy the absurdity of life. He wants to be sure you realize that stopping to think will only cause you problems. "Blink" was a silly book - it wasn't supposed to be but inevitably such pop lit generates more cash than light. "Blank" succeeds. Don't stop to think - just buy it or borrow it and enjoy a good laugh.

Fans of Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" may still find plenty of room in their admiration of the author to admit the possibility that his work is subject to affectionate parody. This amusing send up of Gladwell's book is a perfect companion piece to his thought-provoking effort, in that this one provides no provocation for thought at all -- in fact, it exhorts the reader to stop thinking altogether. When you come to think about it, that's a pretty good prescription for laughter. The author, whoever he may be (the pseudonym is almost translucent) also displays a deep understanding of deli meat, always a strong element in any truly satisfying work.