Product Description

"The Tipping Point" is the biography of an idea, and the idea is quite simple: that many of the problems we face - from murder to teenage delinquency to traffic jams - behave like epidemics. They aren't linear phenomena in the sense that they steadily and predictably change according to the level of effort brought to bear against them. They are capable of sudden and dramatic changes in direction. Years of well-intentioned intervention may have no impact at all, yet the right intervention - at just the right time - can start a cascade of change. Many of the social ills that face us today, in other words, are as inherently volatile as the epidemics that periodically sweep through the human population: little things can cause them to "tip" at any time and if we want to understand how to confront and solve them we have to understand what those "tipping points" are. In this study, Malcolm Gladwell explores the ramifications of this. Not simply for politicians and policy-makers, his method provides a way of viewing everyday experience and seeking to enable us to develop strategies for everything from raising a child to running a company.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #408 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
"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 behaviours spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of mimetics will recognise this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanise 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

Review
Gladwell argues that many contemporary problems - from crime to teenage delinquency and traffic jams - behave like epidemics that are capable of sudden and dramatic changes in direction. Yet the right intervention at just the right time - the Tipping Point - can start a cascade of change and provide a method for developing strategies for everything from raising a child to running a company.

From the Publisher
CRITICS AGREE "THE TIPPING POINT" SHOULD TIP!
'The point of this book is to try to analyse the seemingly magical processes by which some products, ideas and ways of behaving cross a threshold or "tip" and take off -- and, conversely, why so many more fail. The subject should be of interest to most of us -- we all have products, messages or causes, after all, that we want to see advanced. But it is here much enlivened by the sort of easy, vivid illustrations which are fast making Malcolm Gladwell something of a journalistic star ... THE TIPPING POINT provides some profoundly suggestive arguments and insights. Its account of the pivotal role that identifiable individuals play in the spread of ideas, information and trends is, in particular, fascinating. It is also heartening: individual men and women can, it turns out, really make a difference' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'Hip and hopeful, THE TIPPING POINT is like the idea it describes: concise, elegant but packed with social power. A book for anyone who cares about how society works and how we can make it better' GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

'You might be forgiven for supposing that the processes involved [in tipping points] are so complex as to defy analysis. Yet by applying a few simple principles, Gladwell seems able to dismantle them. What’s even more impressive is the way this staff writer for the NEW YORKER then lays out the parts and labels them in a language that is entirely accessible to the ordinary reader' TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT

'Gladwell soon fascinates the reader ... THE TIPPING POINT is full of interesting stuff ... Gladwell is intelligent, articulate, well-informed and thought-provoking' OBSERVER

'Genuinely fascinating and frequently startling ... It is a widely researched, closely argued investigation of how ideas, trends and social behaviour spread through populations, specifically of those cases where the spread takes on wildfire proportions ... Likening the spread of social behaviours to an epidemic of contagious disease, Gladwell’s project is to identify the factors that converge in the "tipping point", when such an epidemic crosses a threshold, or achieves some critical mass, and its expansion goes into near-exponential overdrive ... The way in which the material is arranged -– peppered with surprising statistics, telling anecdotes and human colour -– makes it chattily readable without being frivolous or condescending. It’s the kind of book from which you’ll be regaling your friends with intriguing snippets for weeks to come, in addition to being, potentially, a powerful, practical tool for anyone with an idea to peddle or a campaign to promote' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

'THE TIPPING POINT is one of those rare books that changes the way you think about, well, everything. A combination of lucid explanation with vivid (and often funny) real-world examples, the book sets out to explain nothing less than why human beings behave the way they do' JEFFREY TOOBIN, author of A VAST CONSPIRACY

'Want to change the world? Find out how in Malcolm Gladwell’s THE TIPPING POINT. He has "the rules" for engineering social epidemics. You’ll see how to turn an idea, product or practice into a virulent mind virus that will sweep through society to become the latest craze, fad or fashion ... Gladwell’s engaging style brings to life aspects of social contagion research by weaving together some of its more colourful case studies and insights with his own anecdotes. As such, it is an excellent source of brain candy ... THE TIPPING POINT contains enough to entertain your mind and the minds with whom you share your dinner for several weeks ... By showing us the strings by which we are so often moved, Gladwell takes us a step towards our own liberation' NEW SCIENTIST

'A fascinating book that makes you see the world in a different way' FORTUNE

'What someone once said about the great Edmund Wilson is as true of Malcolm Gladwell: he gives ideas the quality of action. Here he’s written a wonderful page-turner about a fascinating idea that should affect the way every thinking person thinks about the world around him' MICHAEL LEWIS, author of LIAR’S POKER

'A wonderfully offbeat study of that little-understood phenomenon, the social epidemic ... THE TIPPING POINT is a very subtle piece of work, coming out with ideas -– not necessarily his own -– that make conventional solutions to social problems seem criminally naïve ... In America THE TIPPING POINT has already authenticated its own claims about the power of word of mouth. I bought my copy in Seattle. Moving down the coast, I spent the weekend in San Francisco, where my cousin borrowed the book and sat up reading it until the early hours. In Los Angeles, my hosts read the book on alternate nights and peppered their conversations with titbits from it. In Pasadena, I tried to buy an extra copy. "Sorry," said the man in the bookstore. "I bought the last two for my friends"' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Customer Reviews

Interesting read, but be wary of the evidence
For the most part a great read. However, Mr Gladwell's use of evidence is very selective and the ambiguity of some of the conclusions from some of the studies is just ignored to fit Gladwell's argument. The studies used have been talked about in other books such as Freakanomics, and the way that they are used here to try and prove the concept of the book should be viewed with caution. The central idea of the book is very simple and reasonably logical, so the poor use of evidence does not distract too much.
Ultimately an interesting, enjoyable read, just a shame that it wasn't better researched.

Does not disappoint.
The book is about the "tipping point", that is, that moment when an idea or social behaviour has reached a level where it "tips" and spreads like crazy.

The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Taking three rules, then, the book uses them to explain seemingly puzzling epidemic situations in society such as teen smoking or bestsellers.

Fun and interesting, if this kind of topic appeals to you, you'll like the book- its well written and an easy read. Other books that might appeal to general interest readers include The Sixty-Second Motivator.

The Tipping Point
'The Tipping Point' is another entertaining, yet laboured book from Malcolm Gladwell. Like 'Blink' you get an interesting premise, explained very well at the beginning of the book, followed by 150 pages going over the same ground in greater depth. Once you've grasped the initial concept and had it proven with a few examples, you don't really need to go over it much more. Saying that, this book is an entertaining read and has some wonderful examples to illustrate the various points. I particularly enjoyed the chapter exploring the benefits, and tipping point of, sesame street and blues clues. Other chapters though, like the one on suicide and smoking, are pretty aimless and take a long time to make a very minor, insignificant point. This book is worth a read if you liked 'Blink' and it has some interesting ideas explored in it. If you like this I'd recommend 'Predictably irrational' which has similar experiments and is more coherent and focused. In fact, I'd probably recommend that book before this one. This is a good read, but not a great read.