Rating: 
Summary: tip this book
Review: gladwell fans will notice that this book unifies many of his new yorker peices into one theory about how small changes made by exceptional people can influence large groups. but as a group, gladwell's stories are not as impressive as they were individual examples. the jacket says gladwell gives ideas the quality of action, and thats true. but his real talent is for finding and examining the characters that make his theory work, the exceptional folks like roger horshrow, lois weisberg and dee dee walker that make the read so interesting. these are great characters and their lives help him get at some interesting ideas. but i think he trips over himself trying to meld these examples into a unified theory that doesn't amount to much more than the point made in the subtitle: "little things can make a big difference." this is a good book by guy with some very good stories to tell, but i still prefer the peices i read for free on gladwell.com
Rating: 
Summary: A great intro to mass psychology
Review: Sure, if you've spent your life in marketing and/or have read books on "memes" and chaos theory, "The Tipping Point" may be a bit pedestrian. But, for the average pedestrian, this small book is compelling, thought-provoking and fun (something lacking in most marketing books). Next time someone asks me to explain again what marketing is all about, I will recommend this book.I am also relieved that Mr. Gladwell omitted a lot of the "how to's" that make business books so dull. Give me the concept, some of the top cases supporting it, and it should be my job to figure out the rest. I hope that many of the reviewers who have complained about a lack of step-by-step guidelines work for my competitors. They can happily march in unison waving Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" ...and make my job that much easier.
Rating:
Summary: Can Content Equal Concept?
Review: In the case of "The Tipping Point", Gladwell admirably backs up his concept. The positives lie in not prolonging the concept into a lengthy treatise, and well-researched case studies. At times, though, the book gets muddled - and that is the only negative.
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Summary: Page turner, but requires more referenced research
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two days (for hours and hours and hours). I feel the author did a good job introducing nomenclature for the social elements required for a "social epidemic." But... I'd have prefered if I'd completed the book not only with a sense that I'd grasped its primary concepts, but also hold a printed references to the research that enabled the author to come to his conclusions. Stated another way, I see the value of introducing personality types by telling a story, but I'd have prefered if these author observations would have been followed up with more supporting psychological/anthropological/sociological research. The concepts introduced were potentially revolutionary. They would have been more solid if it would have fascilitated the perpetuation of these ideas by leading the reader into a direction intended by the author.
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Summary: Get a handle on people
Review: The Tipping Point benefited from the epidemic of popularity that it documented. Perhaps it was inevitable. The glitterari and trendsetters could not resist a book written about *them*. But it begs the question, "Why will people read this book in the year 2005?" To me, the value of The Tipping Point is that the book starts to define an operative set of handles. Wheelbarrows are valuable tools because they balance the load over the wheel and they have a set of handles that allow the operator to control the how-and-when of tipping. The early chapters of the book are a prelude, the backdrop, for the chapter on Crime in New York City and the chapter on Teen Smoking and Suicide. Those two chapters are the reason I gave it to a member of the local school board. We thought we knew something about how to control violence in schools. We were wrong. The Tipping Point makes a compelling argument *against* the triage approach. Paraphrasing the book's arguments: People are sheep. People look to the external environment for cues regarding appropriate behavior. Triage, on the part of the authorities, let's the little stuff go and tries to grapple with the big stuff. People are sophisticated enough to look at the stress points in the social fabric for their cues. Have the authorities "written off" the subways, the bathrooms, the shadows behind the bleachers? Why should a would-be criminal fear the authorities if they are not competent enough to keep the toilets working? The Tipping Point states that you have to find the stress points that people look to for behavior cues. Then you commit the resources required to make those stress points clean and safe. Managing the heck out of the stress points was one of the handles documented in The Tipping Point. The Tipping Point described several other sets of handles. Consider buying the book if you ever need to manage the behavior of others.
Rating:
Summary: It tipped me
Review: Trying to decide between this book and Seth Godin's "Ideavirus" book. Buy "The Tipping Point". There's a lot of food for thought in this book. For instance if you're involved in a large company that is growing stagnant, you might want to examine the section on "The Rule of 150". If you really want to create an ideavirus then here you'll get some real help on identifying those people who can help you spread it. It doesn't have the answer to everything but it doesn't pander to you, it makes you think, and you just might draw some conclusions that will make your personal life or business life or both, better.
Rating:
Summary: Revolution in marketing
Review: I disagree with the previous review. Although he, or she, summarized the book's core concept very well, the epidemic theory is difficult to turn into a step-by-step guide. Therefore, the numerous examples are necessary to help the reader brainstorm ways of creating his or her own epidemic. This book has a similar thesis as "Anatomy of Buzz" and "Unleashing the IdeaVirus," but I think it does the best job of breaking down the structure of an epidemic. The fact that these three books are appearing at the same time suggests to me that a marketing revolution is afoot and I, for one, plan to start up a PR agency to help companies take advantage of this new idea.
Rating:
Summary: Fresh thinking
Review: The Tipping Point is a fascinating study of human behavior that makes perfectly good sense. Although Gladwell's subjects are quite diverse, he finds logical connecctions that explain how trends spread so quickly in our society. His logic is clear and his data are comprehensive and he writes in a pleasant tone that makes this book an easy two-day read. Gladwell explains a pattern that people used to just consider random. Well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Stay Up Late and Talk as Fast as You Can
Review: And if all the right TV shows have come on, the moon is full, the window is open and you can hear the waves of the ocean crashing against the stone wall of your house up on the cliff, you and the rest of your late-night wasted college friends can stitch together in riotous tropes and serial monologues, all of the intro-course sociology, psychology, marketing and speculative philospohy you can remember, in between chugging contests with enormous cans of Foster's. But you will have to be sharp, indeed, yet hyper-adaptive and fluid of speech, to hit the level of chattiness exemplified by Gladwell in this very interesting book. In the morning you will remember one or two examples of unusual insights, and they may stay with you for years afterward. Then you will move on with your life, oddly reassured that Gladwell has shown you the possibilities--but also the limits--of how to string together fragments of learning into a powerful affirmation of authoritarianism and coercion in the administration of the media, government, and business. So Gladwell is a kind of gnostic decoder of how we are directed in our lives, and he cleverly explains it without taking sides in the moral drama beneath it all, which is where a V.I. Lenin would be operating today, asking the question: "Who is Tipping Whom?" Gladwell is very gifted, smarter than most of your friends in college. And less obnoxious. You can read this in about 2 days between other things.
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Summary: I'm confused....how can he not even mention memes???
Review: I was drawn to this book based on my enjoyment of Connie Willis's "Bellwhether" and Grant Morrisons's "Invisibles" which both touch on the topics in this book but I can't for the life of me how can he make a statement to the effect of "ideas are like viruses" and not acknowlege "Memes". Isnt this bad scientific writting?? Has the author ever addressed his ommision??
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