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Summary: An Eye Opener
Review: A definite EYE OPENER for me. I'am just half way through book, and it may well be one those books which I read more then once.
As a software engineer most of the ideas are new to me. Wahtever your profession, do yourself a favour and buy it.
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Summary: Baby Steps
Review: Starting a FAD, like planning an invention is a very difficult task. Malcom Gladwell dissects some cultural phenomena and presents the designs behind them. While less mysterious, trends are no less difficult to replicate. Everyone riding the subway would be fascinated to know the steps taken in the 80's to save it. I was.Michael Duranko, Bootism: a shoe religion
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Summary: Put It On Your List
Review: What do teenage smoking, Hush Puppies, Paul Revere, and Sesame Street have in common? They are used in examples of epidemic growth by author Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. The Tipping Point is the moment at which a product or concept begins to spread at an exponential rate. If you've ever wondered about the acceptance of new technologies or products, you will enjoy reading this book. Author Gladwell describes three principles of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few states that there are certain types of people who are unusually effective at spreading ideas: connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Connectors have many acquaintances. Mavens are experts on products or technology and continuously share their opinions with others. Salesmen are charismatic individuals that are particularly effective at persuasion. The Stickiness Factor postulates that messages have inherent qualities that govern their uptake and retention. Author Gladwell uses the example of Paul Revere, who on the evening of April 18, 1775, from 10 p.m. to midnight, road thirteen miles through four towns telling residents, "The British Are Coming." Because Revere, a consummate salesman was also a connector, he was highly effective in selling his message, knocking on doors of acquaintances along the way. Equally important is the fact that in Boston, in 1775, this message was extremely relevant (i.e. sticky). Because of Revere's charisma and the stickiness of his message, the British were soundly defeated at Concord the following day and the American Revolution had officially begun. The Power of Context states that the environment is a major factor in the uptake of messages. Author Gladwell attributes the drop-off in New York City crime in the early 1990s to a deliberate effort to improve the environment by removing graffiti, cleaning subway cars, getting vagrants off the street, etc. In other words, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner William Bratton halved the crime rate by changing the context of the crimes. This book is especially relevant in our internet age, when both essays and viruses can hit all connected computers within hours of initial transmission. Richly peppered with historical examples, it is a quick and enjoyable read.
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Summary: A Complete Failure (merits 5 negative stars)
Review: Chinese food for thought - viz, as you read you feel you're getting intellectual nutrition, but by the end of the book you will be no better off than you were when you began. Indeed, you will have wasted your time and money. Here's the bottom line. The notion that great effects can spring from tiny causes is no great revelation. There were only two goals worth achieving in this book, and for which I, and undoubtedly most readers, purchased and consumed the book in vain for enlightenment: either (i) tell us how to CATALYZE a tipping point in the actual world (the active option); or, failing that, (ii) tell us how to predict when a tipping point WILL HAPPEN, or at least recognize a tipping point AS IT HAPPENS, not just retrospectively (the passive options). Gladwell's book accomplishes neither of these goals. To be able to look back at the trajectory of some huge phenomenon and say, "Hey, there must have been a tipping point somewhere between the phenomenon's modest, indiscernible beginnings and its current, enormous state," is to state the obvious. Worse, Gladwell's thesis may be nothing more than a sophistical tautology: OF COURSE every large trend begins as something small, the province of the few early adopters, off everyone else's radar screen and indeed not even qualifying AS a trend. Then, at some point (dubbed, unhelpfully if glibly as the tipping point), the trend manifests itself to the larger public as it picks up steam. If you are trying to cause, predict, or at least recognize tipping points, expect no guidance or insights here. Many other books cover the same points in far more practical ways (i.e., ways that can be implemented and exploited in the world at large).
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Summary: A Scientific Exploration of One Aspect of Human Behavior
Review: Gladwell is one of the best writers and analysts out there who explore the human condition. He reads, and cites, pyschological studies to develop propositions that explain behavior. He has a keen eye for discovering plausible explanations, although I have a hard time seeing how to use this knowledge in a predictive manner. It does exlpain a lot, and this book is interesting in its scope and approachability. I think Gladwell is a genius, but I'm not sure how to put this to practical use.
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Summary: Changed my Life
Review: This book showed me how pivotal little tiny things can be in the big picture of life. It has caused me to persevere in areas that seemed like dead ends, and to take chances on things that I normally wouldn't have... All of which has had a most positive impact on what it means to be me. One example is trying out the techniques on the "New Sex Now" video, and breaking through to a whole new unexpected level of excellence in my most initmate life. Everyone should read the Tipping Point.
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Summary: Brilliant book to show how little things mean a lot
Review: Great marketing book to explain how critical mass is achieved. Buy it and get another book with it called Optimal Thinking by Rosalene Glickman (Wiley) to learn how to make the most of every situation.
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Summary: Sociology and the Chaos Theory
Review: I found this book in the library and have already bought several copies. It was the best book I read last year. I can't see how it would be helpful from a business perspective, but it was fascinating and well written. I'm always searching for non-fiction that's well researched and un-opinionated. This fit the bill.
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Summary: Three Cardinal Principles
Review: The Tipping Point-Malcolm Gladwell This terrific book isn't really about advertising or footwear although it begins and ends with two seemingly overnight sensations in that category, one of which, Airwalks, he ascribes to advertising, the other, Hush Puppies, he doesn't. (I think he may be wrong there, but more on that later.)
But the reason anyone in advertising or marketing will want to read this book is because Mr. Gladwell does such a good job of deconstructing and explaining how trends or fads or to use the current expression: "buzz" come to be. Drawing from an enormous range of sources, from history to sociology to anthropology and psychology, he ultimately attributes the emergence of the latest, new, new thing to three cardinal principles that no marketer or communicator should be unaware of.
His first law relates to the subject of the audience to which a message should be directed. As he explains, a small group of people he designates as "connectors", "mavens" and "salesmen" play an enormous role in determining if an idea (or product) takes off. This would seem to have an interesting application to how marketers identify their target audience.
His next law arises from his observation that even very subtle changes in how a message is delivered can have a huge impact on its memorability and how likely it is to prompt action. So this would seem to have a big bearing on what an advertiser's message should be.
And finally, he gets to the fact that the context in which a message is delivered can be every bit as important to building momentum as what the message itself is, i.e. how and where you say something is just as critical as what you say.
Three important lessons for anyone interested in changing people's behaviors, which is certainly key to what advertisers and their advertising agencies are interested in. But what about my beef with his Hush Puppies claim? Well, what Gladwell asserts is that Hush Puppies became all the rage after the fashionistas who troll the small stores of New York's lower East Side discovered them sometime around late 1993 or early 1994. No advertising necessary. But what I know is there was some terrific Hush Puppies advertising done around that time. However, when I went back to look for it, I discovered it ran from 1986-1989 and clearly there can't have been a four or five year gap between this advertising and the Hush Puppies craze. Unless...
Unless the great advertising was actually done as a tool to load up the trade (a not uncommon practice in the apparel business), and when the merchandise didn't move (possibly because the media budget was too small) the trade dumped its stock of Hush Puppies on wholesalers who eventually sold them to those small stores on the lower East Side where the trendsetters found them.
Who knows? But this book is well worth reading in any event.
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Summary: A great way to comprehend trends and socal fads
Review: This book is premoted a theory that states that small changes cause great socal change. The idea is that after a certain amount of word of mouth comumication can cause a small trend to become a major fade or social trend. The model is similar to the spread of viruses or disease. This book is about an idea reaching a crital mass that cause a juggernaut of change. The book states three rule how certain poeple are good at connecting poeple, some poeple are excellent educators and some poeple are great salespersons. These poeple can cause a word of mouth fad or socal virus. The book gives excellent case studies and examples of this type of person The second part of the book is about making ideas stick. How small changes in a avertising campaign or idea communication can cause a marked social idea. The final idea is about context effecting socal action. This part of the book describes the causes of the spread of teenage smoking and sucide. A lot of the science is counter intuative and really will suprise most readers. This is an important book for thoses who want to understand the "randomness" of our marketing and social world. As well the book is well researched and compelling with its examples and case studies. It is an easy read I read it on a 10 hour plane ride and it seemed like minutes. As well I wanted to read it again.
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