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Summary: Not a review a Recommendation
Review: Forget 5 stars. Malcom Gladwell should get at least 10 for The Tipping Point. I've spent the last 30+ years in the advertising business. Though I don't think he intended to do so, Gladwell has written one of the most insightful and profound books about advertising that I've ever read. Everyone in the business should read and heed what he's written.
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Summary: Bringing you psych studies from the 1960's
Review: Tipping point is interesting, however, there is not a lot of origional thought or ideas here. The author largely cites studies of behavior done in the 1950 - 70's as well as a number of other psychological studies. Little new news here in terms of how trends form or develop.I was disappointed in the fact that the book did not provide new advice or ideas on how to have things cross the tipping point. The book was largely descriptive rather than proscriptive or providing advice. I am particularly concerned with the takeup of new technology, the author does mention Jeff Moore's "Chrossing the Chasm". Moore's book is signficantly better for those looking to tip a product over the edge -- particularly one related to technology. Well written but weak, this book could have become the foundation for a new form of marketing if it were more focused on what do to rather than what has happened. Other better books on marketing are "Eating the Big Fish" and "Permission Marketing". Read these if you are looking to do something with your knowledge.
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Summary: Extremely interesting read - no matter what your background
Review: This book, with its' varied examples (from disease to Sesame Street), was fun reading. It was interesting to read the "behind the scenes" stories as well as think about how this applies to what we do today. Short - but interesting. I think it would make for interesting book club reading - one step away from the novels that most clubs do exclusively.
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Summary: Stylish discussion of memetics...without using the word!
Review: The science is weak and the conclusions Gladwell draws sometimes don't follow from the facts presented. So why 5 stars? Because this is one of the finest books on memetics ever written. His STYLE makes up for the flaws and then some. Gladwell doesn't use the words virus or meme in the book (at least I don't think he did) but that's what this book is about. Heck, there may not even BE a tipping point. But when you read this book you UNDERSTAND the phenomenon of viral marketing and memetics well enough to explain it to your 10 year old and that is rare. Most books written on the spread of ideas fail miserably at defining what memes are. This book simply tells the story so well there is never another doubt. Wonderful read. Kevin Hogan...
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Summary: spreading like a virus...
Review: The premise underlying Malcolm Gladwell's argument in The Tipping Point is that to understand why some products and ideas take off, we have to think of them like viruses: "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors," he writes, "spread just like viruses do." He uses the example of how Hush Puppies shoes that were only selling about 30,000 pairs of shoes a year, started being thought of as hip rather than passé. By 1995 the word had spread like a virus and, 430,000 pairs of Hush Puppies were sold. In 1996, about four times that number were sold. It's like measles spreading, Gladwell argues. It involves contagiousness, recognizing tha tlittle causes have large effects, and understanding how change often occurs at one dramatic moment rather than gradually. That one dramatic moment is what Gladwell calls "the tipping point." By reading Gladwell's book you can get a sense of how some smart companies understand this and take advantage of it to spread their own virus.
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Summary: Interesting - informative but not too instructional
Review: I found the book interesting, and a good read but I was hoping for something more instructional. I am guessing that a great number of people want to understand how to create change in an organization or other group. The premise of "The Tipping Point" drew me in - how profound change or influence spreads through rather small beginnings. While the book is chock full of examples and interesting anecdotes, I still don't know if I can take this information and apply it. The book focuses in on three concepts - "The Law of the Few", "Stickiness", and "The Power of Context". The first section is probably the most useful, as it identifies the key types of individuals who spread influence, ideas, and even disease. If one wished to affect change or spread influence, one needs to identify these types of individuals and employ them to their cause. The second two sections, while interesting, don't give the reader much guidance. The author convinces me that the concept of "stickiness" is important, but does little to tell me how to make a concept or behavior sticky other than exhaustive focus group testing. To use the book's example of "Hush Puppies" - how did that fashion trend become "sticky?" Finally, the section on the power of context is convincing, although I still don't know how to identify contextual factors that matter when trying to spread influence or ideas. Perhaps the author will cover the employment of these concepts in a later book. Obviously, I liked the book, and it was a very good read. Otherwise, I would not be complaining about the lack of instruction vs. exposition.
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Summary: A Great Book For Marketers
Review: This book should become required reading for marketing professionals. While an interesting read from a social studies perspective, The Tipping Point reveals how big-time marketing campaigns can be a lot less important than more creative word-of-mouth and viral marketing techniques. Gladwell uses numerous examples from history, health care epedimics and the world around us to illustrate how making a product or message 'sticky' can be far more important than spending a lot of money on traditional advertising. I loved the illustration regarding Paul Revere, as well as the description of the chapters on the power of context. Maybe I liked this book because Gladwell proved that my instincts regarding really good marketing are true; we all love to be proved right. Good marketing is more a function of creativity and good testing, and not how much money you spend. The book also is easy reading and makes great dinner and cocktail party conversation.
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Summary: Social Epidemics
Review: The Tipping Point : How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell available on audio cassette as well as a text This book is one of the most interesting that I have read in a long time. Malcolm Gladwell is concerned with explaining the mechanism behind social epidemics. Epidemics that can range from the latest fashion or product craze, to idea epidemics, suicide epidemics, and even crime waves and how and why they start, and how they can be stopped. There is an extremely interesting discussion about why the incidence of cigarette smoking is rising amongst youngsters in spite of the significant efforts being expended to curtail it. Another very interesting discussion revolves around two very popular children's shows, Sesame Street and Blues Clues. The reasons for the success that these shows have had in regard to educating young children are surprising and fascinating. There is even a discussion as to why the "Ride of Paul Revere" was so successful while the ride of William Dawes was a total failure. Below you will find a brief excerpt from the book that introduces the Paul Revere discussion. "Paul Revere's ride is perhaps the most famous historical example of a word-of-mouth epidemic. A piece of extraordinary news travelled a long distance in a very short time, mobilising an entire region to arms. Not all word-of-mouth epidemics are this sensational of course.But it is safe to say that word of mouth is - even in this age of mass communications and multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns, still the most important form of human communication. Think, for a moment, about the last expensive restaurant you went to, the last expensive piece of clothing you bought, and the last movie you saw. In how many of those cases was your decision about where to spend your money heavily influenced by the recommendation of a friend? There are plenty of advertising executives who think that precisely because of the sheer ubiquity of marketing efforts these days, word-of-mouth appeals have become the only kind of persuasion that most of us respond to anymore. But for all that, word of mouth remains very mysterious. People pass on all kinds of information to each other all the time. But it's only in the rare instance that such an exchange ignites a word-of-mouth epidemic. In the case of Paul Revere's ride, the answer to this seems easy. Revere was carrying a sensational piece of news: the British were coming. But if you look closely at the events of that evening, that explanation doesn't solve the riddle either. At the same time that Revere began his ride north and west of Boston, a fellow revolutionary, a tanner by the name of William Dawes - set out on the same urgent errand, working his way to Lexington via the towns west of Boston. He was carrying the identical message, through just as many towns over just as many miles as Paul Revere. But Dawes's ride didn't set the countryside afire. The local militia leaders weren't alerted. In fact, so few men from one of the main towns he rode through - Waltham - fought the following day that some subsequent historians concluded that it must have been a strongly pro-British community. It wasn't.The people of Waltham just didn't find out the British were coming until it was too late. If it were only the news itself that mattered in a word-of-mouth epidemic, Dawes would now he as famous as Paul Revere. He isn't. So why did Revere succeed where Dawes failed?" The Tipping Point, pages 32..33 The author of The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, is a writer for the magazine, The New Yorker. The journalistic style of the "in-depth magazine article" can be seen throughout the text (as is evident in the quoted passages above). Given his background it should come as no surprise that Gladwell has created a work that is concise and entertaining, thus making The Tipping Point a very easy read indeed. I strongly recommend this book to any who are trying get ideas across to others. The book will prove particularly valuable to those involved in business, education, or marketing. Even those who are not involved in promoting an idea or product should find the book interesting for the insights into human nature and communication that it provides. I should like also to mention in passing that while Gladwell does not address epidemics in the financial markets at all, the ideas expressed in the book go a long way towards explaining some of the extremes that these markets are subject to. Thus, for those interested in such things, I would suggest that the book should prove valuable.
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Summary: Work With the Public? Buy This Book. Now.
Review: This is a fascinating book about how our culture work. Extremely well written and accessible, it is a must read for anyone who works with the public. Gladwell ties together a disparate list of examples -- ranging from hush puppies to Blue's Clues to teenage smoking -- to identify and describe the elements which take an idea or product from the fringes of society to the mainstream. Most significantly, he accomplishes this while avoiding lapses into ivory tower abstractions. Instead, he keeps his arguments grounded in reality, which not only makes the book more intersting, it makes it more useful, too. I'm usually pretty critical in my Amazon.com reviews. But "The Tipping Point" is a rare find: an important book done well. It's the kind of book you buy for friends -- because while you want them to read it, you don't want to lend out your copy.
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Summary: Oustanding
Review: If I could afford to give one book to all my family and friends this Christmas, it would be The Tipping Point. This book is chock full of fascinating insights into human social behavior. For weeks after I read the book it seemed that some aspect of it applied to virtually every conversation I had (much to the consternation of my friends). You will certainly not regret giving this book a try.
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