Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book for Young People to Read!!
Review: Being a teacher of high school seniors, this book has proved to be an invaluable tool in opening their eyes to how the world is. Most young people, since they don't read, have an extremely narrow view of the world (basically the five miles radius that surrounds their house)so any book that can enlighten them is a joy to find. The book is a great starting point from examining trends to figuring out why teens continue to smoke in such numbers. As a bonus, my students now understand the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon commercial for the Visa Check Card!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not quite complete...
Review: To be quite honest, I was disappointed with this book. I understood it to be more poignant. Unfortunately, it was more of the same pop psychology spin on what might have otherwise been a more balanced premise. The examples, though relevant, are straight out of Psych. 101, minus the professorial warning of attaching to much importance to their conclusions.
It takes a rocket scientist to understand why crack houses become crack houses? Well, I can tell you that it undoubtedly has to do with the fact that no one lives in them, their dilapidated condition announces their vacant status. Does context matter? Of course it does. For one to suggest that its importance exists in a vacuum, or carries more weight than any other factor is ridiculous. Nearly every example that was sighted in the book lacked background and scope, thus absent the contextual significance that the book proposes.
I think I would have much preferred this book with a more balanced presentation of Mr. Gladwell's evidence [i.e. other factors sustaining the "epidemics" used as examples]. I am not a writer, however, and will admit that gaining sufficient interest from the public to make a book a bestseller probably requires a different appeal.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for anyone in sales and marketing ...
Review: Common sense study that brings to light how some trends take off and why others never do. Basic understanding of human nature and how to cultivate interest for your product or program. Would make a nice addition to any reading list for business, sales and marketing.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Insight into Human Behavior
Review: I casually picked up Gladwell's book while thumbing through the Marketing Section at a local bookseller -- what an incredible find this book was. Malcolm Gladwell picks up where Dr. Cialdini's pivotal work "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" left off in deep explanation as to how people "really" make decisions. The Tipping Point explains so much that we know intuitively, but have warned-away from by thousands of other erroroneous theories and marketing classes. I now understand the advertisements I see, and why the theories underlying the unsuccessful ads are so painfully wrong. Malcolm's ideas about the "magic 150" in group size was my favorite example, as I have seen it for myself. I cannot recommend this book more...
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Summary: Food for thought , and wings to the imagination
Review: I really liked this book. I have been a small business owner for the past fifteen years, and part of my success has been the consequence of regular reading and regular application as I judge possible of what I read about marketing. This book though is different, it is not quite a business-how-to book, it is a collection of essays that have made me think about my business from a different perspective and they have also helped me explain to myself, why after carrying one particular item in my store, all of a sudden, several months down the road, without any particular special effort, that item would fall into the category of one of our most popular sales...If you are looking for howtos or ways to market your business, or your manufactured goods, this is not your best bet. For that I would recommend any of Levinson's Guerrila Marketing books. But if you have either passed that phase or if you enjoy thinking about social forces, this is a book for you. It is clever, it has momentum and gives the reader wings for the imagination. Any book that can do this is worth its price in gold and certainly worth 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book that challenges us to think differently
Review: Many may consider this book some sort of marketing book, but it is far more. There are some very clear social psychological principles . The last part on context is worth the price. The author makes note that every thing has a contest. Peoples behaviors, tragedies, and life in general. The importance of context is vital but forgatten by most. The applications of ideas in this book can be used accross the board. Read it more than once. Don't let the title fool you.
Rating: 
Summary: Society is not that simple
Review: The book is about how little events can trigger major tendencies, leading to social-epidemics.
As you can expect from books that explore social behavior, the author tries to convince you that his theory can explain human conduct and, thus, modify it. He deals with such diverse issues as crime, teenage smoking, education and other critical subjects. He tries to point out the little events that can change them but do not expect great insights, just "tips"
Rating:
Summary: Manipulation 101
Review: This book goes into the scientific aspects of trends, and how to manipulate the public into "buying it." Basically, it's a PR book with a twist. As a prerequisite, I recommend Michael Levine's "Guerrilla PR" before tackling "Tipping." You will have a better grasp of the concepts in this book with a crash course in PR beforehand.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: A good source of interesting literature, covering a diverse array of themes, and with a fluid style to match. Nonetheless, I could have given five stars, but disagreed with some of Gladwell's assumptions and conclusions, which I thought were apocryphal. For instance, Gladwell cites research undertaken by a great number of scientists to allegedly 'prove' that the role of one's parents is not as important as the environment in which a person is raised in determining his/her eventual character/personality. Mr. Gladwell, do you think it was a fluke that all the Kennedy men were highly driven, risk takers? Or would you ascribe it to their genetics, as you appear to do in several instances? Mr. Gladwell also mentions that accents of children in homes of immgrants differ from their parents, and therefore, the environment is stronger than the home in which they are raised. Another fallacy Mr. Gladwell. Look at the children of immigrants. Try to take crime statistics of those who live in Harlem and other troubled spots, verses mainstream population. Guess what? There's a difference. Mr. Gladwell himself will agree with this, since he's written about it extensively in other periodicals. I subscribe to the view that this is something which cannot be tested scientifically, and anyone who is familiar with Karl Popper's theories will know what I'm alluding to. Popper asserts that it only takes one scenario that nullifies a hypothesis in order to make a thesis invalid and unscientific. I certainly think education, genetics, parenting, and environment play a role, though one cannot empirically prove which one has a greater influence, and efforts to address one theory will be fallacious from the start. I also did not appreciate the author's commingling of disparate subjects in a way that makes you wonder whether he's cutting and pasting from previous articles he's written (Mr. Gladwell after all writes for the NewYorker). That, unfortunately, is my suspicion. A case in point is when lessons in crime reduction in New York, are juxtaposed with sales lessons from AirWalk shoes all of which are attempting to answer the reason why epidemics tip. The concluding chaper and remarks are brilliantly written, with sufficient reminders of the author's central theses, i.e., the Law of the Few, the Stickiness factor, Mavens, etc. People that are new to the idea of the 6 degrees of separation, behavioral psychology, etc., will get an interesting dose of new approaches to understanding how psychology impacts our day-to-day decisions. Highly recommended, but with some reservation specifically with regard to some conclusions whose accuracy I strongly question.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing read for anyone who's a member of society
Review: Why do some ideas, products, or styles catch on and suddenly become wildly popular across the country? Gladwell fills his book with true-life examples in an easy to read style. If you've ever wondered what makes something "cool" while something else is "geeky" and why we Americans fickly latch on to trendy things like we do, this work offers some great insights. An absorbing read for anyone who is curious about what makes people make the (sometimes inexplicable) choices they do.
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