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Audio CD Description "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

Customer Reviews Please - Stop Him Before He Writes Another Book! This is the second Gladwell book I've read, and unfortunately its as bad as the first (Blink!). His basic point is that little things can make a big difference. Gladwell's problem, however, is that he doesn't know what he's writing about, and it's a fatal flaw. For example, early in this book he relates how a "small change" in Brooklyn policing strategies turned into a "large drop" in crime. In reality, Gladwell is wrong on both counts. "Broken windows" policing referred to by Gladwell was a large (not small change), and the "large drop" in crime Gladwell referred to had little or nothing to do with it. The reality is that "broken windows" policing ended up going far beyond simply pursuing those with minor violations (eg. fare-beating) to include studying crime patterns (location, timing, etc.), setting improvement goals, and regular high-level follow-up. Secondly, "Freakonomics" research concluded that the crime-rate decline began BEFORE the change in policing, and that most of the decline was due to increased staffing. Gladwell also attributed the decline to improved economic conditions - however, no such decline accompanied prior economic good times. Finally, Gladwell offered no explanation of why similar steep declines in crime occurred across the U.S. at the same time - without regard to any change in policing! Another of Gladwell's problems is that he doesn't seem to understand anything about statistics. The fact that a change in policing suposedly occurred at the same time as a decline in crime rates seems to be "proof" of causation for Gladwell. One of the first lessons in statistics, however, is that "correlation does not imply causation." Summarizing, the book starts out poorly, and goes downhill from there - increasingly boring, confusing, and totally lacking in credibility. Don't confuse, aggravate, misinform yourself with this book! Time Waster I ordered this book because, judging from the reviews, it seemed potentially interesting. After reading 40 pages into the book I truly wondered what the point was. We all know little things can make a big difference. We learned that very early in life. So what! I suppose it was written for all the jaded intellectuals who need a 300 page tome to understand the concept that a little match can start a big fire. Wow. One star for the cover. an interesting read on many levels The Tipping Point is a book by Malcolm Gladwell. Tipping point is a sociological term that refers to the moment when something unique becomes common. The book seeks to explain "social epidemics", or sudden and often chaotic changes from one state to another. For example, he cites the drop in the New York City crime rate in the 1990s. The ability to generate these epidemics is highly-sought in marketing. They are similar, in their mathematical properties, to disease epidemics. Gladwell identifies three types of people who have the power to produce social epidemics: Connectors: Those with wide social circles. They are the "hubs" of the human social network and responsible for the small world phenomenon. Mavens are knowledgeable people. While most consumers wouldn't know if a product were priced above the market rate by, say, 10 percent, mavens would. Bloggers who detect false claims in the media could also be considered mavens. Salesmen are charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They exert "soft" influence rather than forceful power. Their source of influence may be the tendency of others, subconsciously, to imitate them rather than techniques of conscious persuasion. Other key concepts in The Tipping Point are: The Law of the Few. Those with the skill sets described above have disproportionate influence over the spread of social phenomena, and without their aid, such dissemination is unlikely ever to occur. Stickiness: Ideas or products found attractive or interesting by others will grow exponentially for some time. The Power of Context: Human behavior is strongly influenced by external variables of context. For example, "zero tolerance" efforts to combat minor crimes such as fare-beating and vandalism on the New York subway led to a decline in more violent crimes; the perception of increased vigilance altered the behavior and attitudes of the passengers. Gladwell also describes the bystander effect. The Magic Number 150. In sociology, it is commonly posited that an individual can only have genuine social relationships with 150 people. Likewise, groups larger than 150 are prone to fragmentation, and it is often best for the group's health that it split. Most extant hunter-gatherer villages, as well as military companies also stay just shy of this number. The New Product Cycle: According to the model of Everett Rogers, there is a bell curve of adaptation to the new phenomenon: first are innovators, then early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Each category corresponds to one standard deviation worth of width, and the apex of the bell curve is between the early and late majorities. Innovators lie 2 or more standard deviations to the left of the mean, while early adopters are between 1 and 2 standard devations to the left, and so on. Laggards, the last group to adopt a new fad, lie at least 1 standard deviation to the right of the mean, thus make up about 16 percent of the population. If I haven't bored you to this point then you'll definately enjoy The Tipping Point. Please vote "yes" this review was helpful.