We may all, at times, be too quick to dismiss the value of first impressions and snap decisions.

BBC: Time to think

What was unique here was that there were back and forth, and so many of them describe themselves as making last-minute snap decisions.

NPR: Examining New Hampshire's Surprise Shift to Clinton

More importantly, the book gets to how our inability to understand how we make these snap decisions can sometimes hinder our decision making skills.

FORBES: Discrimination Is Alive And Well

Rather, it has been caused by a series of snap decisions made on the spur of the moment that gradually move you in a wrong direction.

FORBES: How Small Business Owners Walk the Ethical Line

Mr. Appleton, who leaves his wife, Dalynn, and four children, credited his love of high-velocity sporting with helping him make snap business decisions.

WSJ: Micron Tech CEO Dies in Plane Accident

The whole book is about snap judgments and how our decisions are affected by them.

FORBES: Discrimination Is Alive And Well

But when does our core decency come in when we make such life-altering decisions in a snap?

CNN: Commentary: Was burglary worth killing 2 men?

The key to that, as countries such as New Zealand have discovered, is to snap the link between the subsidies farmers receive and the decisions they make about what and how much to grow.

ECONOMIST: Japan's farmers