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Summary: I've tipped!!!
Review: Some books are just viral in nature. This is one of them. "Winning at Mergers & Acquisitions", "Einstein's Dreams" and "Naked Lunch" are just a few others that have it all.The message is so strong, the delivery is so smooth, the content so easily digested, that it compells the reader to act. To pass on the message. To build it into his or her life. To become an evangelist for the cause. "The Tipping Point" has all those components.
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Summary: Some Interesting Ideas
Review: Malcolm Gladwell has attempted to define the things which whole marketing departments and advertising firms struggle daily to grasp. What makes idea catch on? What does it take to make a product catch on? Is it the product itself? Or maybe just what that product represents. He shares anecdotes on a variety of different topics, from the popularity of teenage cigarette smoking to Blue's Clues; from the popularity of "that great new restaurant in town" to the phenomenon of contagious teenage suicide. Gladwell's anecdotes are interesting and thought provoking, however I warn anyone who is looking for a Marketing Bible. Gladwell analyzes the successes of some innovative companies and marketing campaigns. However if it's just the facts and not some opinions you're looking for, look someplace else. Gladwell frequently refers to his pseudo-science: surveys he himself has conducted of people he knows. It takes more than a survey of a handful of the author's friends and acquaintances to sell me on an idea - and therefore I must say that I haven't been completely sold on Gladwell's theories. That is not saying that this book is without merits. Gladwell makes many good points on the transmission of ideas. I found this book extremely interesting and useful in that it provides a new look at some age-old problems. And any book which can make me think differently on an idea which I was fairly certain about - teenage smoking, for example, is a worthwhile read in my book.
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Summary: Almost one of the best...
Review: This is a great book with lots of information about how social epidemics are spread. If you are in a field where reputation matters and word of mouth can make all the difference, you need to read this book.I was a bit put off by the over long discussion on Seasame Street and Blues Clues, it was almost as if the author was trying to stretch things out to make the book longer. This is the only complaint I have on this book and what keeps it from getting five stars. The section on the "Law of the Few" is probably the best and offers the best insight, although the "Power of Context" chapters are solid too. There are a number of other exercised included that will lead to ahas, wows and a few chuckles too. A great read for marketing types and those interested in how fads/trends spread. If you like Harvey Mackay, Harry Beckwith and/or Pat Williams, you will most likely like Gladwell too.
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Summary: Fascinating book with an optimistic message
Review: I found this book very interesting to read. It very practically shows how big changes in societies often happen unexpectedly and suddenly and can be caused by small events. The explanation is: if circumstances are right, ideas, behavior and products can, with the help of the right kinds of people, spread throughout a society like an epidemic. When that happens, a critical point, the tipping point, can be reached at which the behavior and features of the system itself suddenly change. This principle is clearly illustrated by stories about the sudden decrease in crime in New York in the nineties, by the sudden popularity of Hush Puppies and by several other interesting stories. This book contains many interesting ideas and facts, some of them very counter-intuitive. The author manages to make accessible some implications of chaos theory in a very easy and entertaining way for a large public. What I also like about this book is the optimistic tone and message: change is possible and it can happen non-linearly, which means that small events can lead to major changes. Fascinating book.
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Summary: Needs more variety of examples.
Review: A quick, easy & interesting read, but the author should have included a wider range of examples.
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: This book was a great inspiration, but it started rambling in some places.
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Summary: Awesome book!
Review: He makes complex ideas simple using analogy and lots of examples to hit his points home. Thought provoking, and full of information, this is a perfect book for anyone interested in what makes people tick. Its a mix between sociology and marketing.
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Summary: Start Your Own Positive Epidemic
Review: A quick search of Amazon.com Purchase Circles finds that "The Tipping Point" is a favorite read of advertising agencies and PR firms. Why? Author Malcolm Gladwell surmises that they are realizing that "because of the sheer ubiquity of marketing efforts these days, word-of-mouth appeals have become the only kind of persuasion that most us respond to anymore." "The Tipping Point" demystifies the process of word-of-mouth marketing and outlines examples of how companies and individuals have found the tipping points for their causes, or in other words, the moment when an idea takes off and reaches critical mass. The author compares the spread of viral epidemics to the way ordinary things 'tip' toward widespread knowledge or acceptance. Typically, its pattern includes a contagious agent, little causes having big effects with all of it usually happening in one big, dramatic moment. This can happen with ideas, products, messages and behaviors, too. Gladwell outlines a potent case study. It is the interesting tale of rekindled interest in Hush Puppies shoes. Hush Puppies were all but dead in 1994, yet a handful of kids in the East Village and Soho wore the pairs they picked up in second-hand stores. Fashion designer John Bartlett spied the kids' shoes on the street and thought they would make interesting accessories for his spring collection. Haute couture designer Anna Sui followed Bartlett's lead and insisted on them for her next fashion show. Suddenly, 30,000 pairs of Hush Puppies are sold in 1994, 430,000 in 1995, almost 2 million in 1996, and' you get the idea. The fashion-conscious are ripe hosts for spreading idea viruses. To understand what the non-trendoid can do to deliberately start and control positive epidemics of her own, Gladwell cites three rules: · Law of the Few - epidemics are a function of the people who transmit infectious agents. The people who transmit easily are connectors (those who know many people), mavens (those who frequently gather information), and salespeople (those who's personality transmits a message effectively). · The Stickiness Factor - the infectious agent itself, that is, how sticky its message is. · The Power of Context - the environment in which the infectious agent is operating. When an epidemic tips, it is because something has happened, and a change has occurred in one or more of those three areas. Gladwell's chapter on the "Law of the Few" will sound familiar to those who have read Seth Godin's "Unleashing the Ideavirus" or Emanuel Rosen's "The Anatomy of Buzz." Gladwell's "mavens, connectors and salesmen" are cousins to Godin's "sneezers" and Rosen's 'network hubs.' Lest we fear that this is a book geared only toward Prada People, "The Tipping Point" brims with insights into how historical and commonplace events transpired. We learn that: · Paul Revere's ride was successful in spreading news about the forthcoming invasion because he was a maven and a connector. · Sesame Street and Blues Clues have become popular children's shows because its writers maniacally focused on the stickiness of its messages. · "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" became a best seller because of the context in which the author publicized her message - to groups of women around the country. One thing "The Tipping Point" is not: A how-to manual for spreading an idea, product or behavior. More importantly, as Gladwell argues, to create change, we must reframe the way we think about the world through research and then deliberately test our intuitions. Positive epidemics can be successfully launched if we hold steadfast to our belief that we can change the world.
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Summary: Non-Linearity and Social Change
Review: With the use of viruses as a metaphor for non-linear dynamics in social change, Gladwell has written a very interesting book that forces us to examine our premises for analyzing change. An easy read of an interesting topic; it read very quickly, he is a talented narrative writer with a passion for his subject. I'm a little hesitant to buy into some of the explanatory methodology, but the concepts are interesting. The main concept is that very minute changes in a situation can yield vastly different and widespread consequences. While mostly applying this to social behavior, Gladwell is talking about a mathematical process; but one that needs to involve certain types of people in order to succeed. Although Gladwell is enamored with THE NURTURE ASSUMPTION, which has suffered some well-placed criticism, I found THE TIPPING POINT dovetailes nicely with a book by Jane Jacobs called, THE NATURE OF ECONOMIES.
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Summary: Interesting Read
Review: Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for New Yorker Magazine, in The Tipping Point, writes a fascinating study of human behavior patterns, and shows us where the smallest things can trigger an epidemic of change. Though loaded with statistics, the numbers are presented in a way that makes the book read like an exciting novel. Gladwell also gives several examples in history, where one small change in behavior created a bigger change on a national level. He also studies the type of person or group that it takes to make that change. Gladwell's first example is the resurgence of the popularity of Hush Puppies, which had long been out of fashion, and were only sold in small shoe stores. Suddenly, a group of teenage boys in East Village, New York, found the cool to wear. Word-of-mouth advertising that these trend-setters were wearing the once-popular suede shoes set off an epidemic of fashion change, and boys all over America had to have the "cool" shoes. Galdwell also examines the difference in personality it takes to trigger the change. For example, we all know of Paul Revere's famous ride, but how many of us know that William Dawes made a similar ride? The difference was that people listened to Revere and not to Dawes. Why? Revere knew so many different people. He knew who led which village, knew which doors to knock on to rouse the colonists. Dawes didn't know that many people and therefore could only guess which people to give his message. There are several other phenomena that Gladwell examines, showing the small things that spark a change, from the dip in the New York City crime rate to the correlation between depression, smoking and teen suicide. If you want to change the world for the better, this book will give you an insight into the methods that work, and those that will backfire. It's all in knowing where to find The Tipping Point. Jo @ MyShelf.Com
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