false <![CDATA[The Tipping Point]]> 2612 31 "The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's <I>The Tipping Point</I> has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.<p> For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.<p> Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of <I>Sesame Street</I> and <I>Blue's Clues</I>, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, <I>The Tipping Point</I> is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. <I>--Ron Hogan</I> 2124255 2000 The Tipping Point total:41688|5:9669|4:15790|3:11548|2:3117|1:1563| 41688 153951 62151 3273 4 18 false false Wed Feb 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 18 18:01:36 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 15:34:32 -0800 2008
I think those readers are approaching this book the wrong the way when they critisize Gladwell for his inability to prove his points thoroughly. Sure, Gladwell could ha...more...]]> 2 9 false false Tue Feb 26 23:14:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 10:05:35 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 9 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Oct 17 11:19:56 -0700 2006 Mon Nov 13 12:23:13 -0800 2006
three Rules of the tipping point: the law of the few, the stickyness factor, the power of context.

Law of the Few (people who influence):
- Connectors: super c...more...]]> 4 7 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri Sep 21 08:27:09 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 08:31:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 9 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Jul 06 16:28:45 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 16:37:27 -0700 2008
When I read this book, back in 2006, I got really mad and wrote a scathing review of it on Amazon.com. Here it is:

"I've been duped!, June 20, 2006
By Sarah (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This book sucks. Don't waste you...more...]]> 5 4 false false Tue Dec 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 11:57:44 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 11:30:25 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 7 false false Sun Jan 18 04:23:28 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 04:26:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 3 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 09 16:25:25 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 20 20:13:12 -0700 2008 Freakonomics boys took quite a few pages out of this book. The Tipping Point launched the trend of examining social experiments with results that are, to use Mr. Gladwell's phrase, "wildly counterintuitive". I breezed right through this one--the most popular books a...more...]]> 1 2 false false Mon Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 10 14:29:04 -0800 2007 Thu Feb 07 13:58:12 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 02 21:04:27 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 21:39:45 -0700 2007
The principle focus of The Tipping Point is how small changes, can bring about la...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 21:03:03 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 21:09:49 -0700 2009
If I had Gladwell's attention, I would ask him this:...more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Nov 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 04:40:48 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 05:57:05 -0800 2008
The three rules of t...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 16 08:44:36 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 08:18:28 -0800 2008 Blink, but that may be because it depressed me slightly. I hoped, as I'm sure most of its readers did, to figure out how to apply his ideas to create epi...more...]]> 3 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 07:32:28 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 17:21:18 -0700 2007 3 1 false false Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 21:43:35 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 15:00:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Fri Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 13:14:47 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 13:26:21 -0800 2009 Blink prior to The Tipping Point, I came into reading this book viewing it as “the novel that made Gladwell famous.” After finishing it, however, I was left thinking, “this was very clearly his first book.”

The Tipping Point goes out of its way to spell out a concrete agend...

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