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Loading... The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Differenceby Malcolm Gladwell
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This book attempts to explain which factors work together to create fads, trends and epidemics in an increasingly global society. Although the work never evolves beyond a piece of facile pop sociology, it is most interesting for the way the author makes coherent links between seemingly disparate pieces of information in support of his thesis. If this is the first of the three Gladwell books one reads, the style of synthesis and the choice of supporting details will probably seem fresh and appealing. The writing is clear, even when the ideas presented are complicated. (  )gkuhns | Jul 8, 2009 |   Fascinating read that deconstructs social epidemics, examining the factors that cause trends to "catch fire." Especially interesting descriptions of Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople, who play critical roles in the spread of social contagions. (  )LaurelMildred | Jul 4, 2009 | This was the first book I read on socio-economics and I found it very interesting -- this book taught me a new paradigm of how our solutions might affect others and how they may be used to someone's advantage . . . This book became even more interesting to me after reading "Freakonomics" since the pieces of literature are somewhat opposed in their view on very similar topics. (  )bribaker2001 | Jun 25, 2009 | Gladwell writes about epidemics of social change, like the crime reduction in New York following Bernie Goetz's vigilante action, Connectors, Mavens, Salesmen, Paul Revere, Stickiness, Blue's Clues, Gore-tex, and other interesting topics. This book is better than his subsequent formula books. ( )ds1 | Jun 24, 2009 | Some interesting ideas, and a good enough read. (  )elmyra | May 18, 2009 | 0.089 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0316346624, Paperback)"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 The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.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. 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 Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, 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, The Tipping Point 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. --Ron Hogan (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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