Rating: 
Summary: Focus, Test and Believe
Review: The words for my title were taken from the subheading of the concluding chapter of Malcolm Gladwell's intriguing book entitled The Tipping Point. The three words, focus, test and believe are not only a simple description of the entire concept of the book but also extremely effective when applied to Gladwell theory. For instance, a focus for a tipping point is any slight change that can make a huge impact. The test is all the trail and error in trying to find out what causes tipping points and finally believing is when others realize that a tipping point for an event has occurred.
The focus of the book is towards the idea of using epidemics in relation to everyday occurrences, not just major developments in history. The test is a simplified definition of Gladwell's conscious effort to include particular instances, memorable examples, quotes, surveys and everything else to prove and maintain his focus. The believe factor is very simple because that is his primary goal, trying to get the reader to believe him. The most significant aspect of all three of these words is that when the concepts are combined, not only do you believe, you also understand and essentially that is a more worthwhile cause for reading the book.
Primarily the book starts out by setting up the entire theory of tipping points with a reference to the American Revolution and then breaking the concept down into categories. He defines the tipping point as the single event that causes an event to become an epidemic and he outlines the three factors that contribute to this moment. It is this definition and outline that he follows throughout the book and makes the solid foundation for his concept. By doing this he is able to describe not only simple instances but also elaborate experiments that can be then related to his concept. For every thought experiment, such as an idea, an instance, a reference or even a person that Gladwell describes, he always goes back to his outlined concept and correlates the idea with the definition of the tipping point. This focus on maintaining his outlined concept allows the reader to consistently follow Gladwell's train of thought into his next defining concept.
The second aspect of Gladwell's theory and his book, the test, is probably the most insightful and well thought out aspect of the book. The test is basically anything that Gladwell uses to describe everything that he feels the reader should know about. What makes this so interesting is how many different perspectives and ideas he brings to light. He uses everything from the concept of a connectors, mavens and salesmen to the 1960's study done by Harvard sociological researchers for the children's show Sesame Street. Along with including these types of examples and references he also includes an interactive aspect to his book by creating tests for the reader so they can actually see for themselves how relevant his information is to their lives. For instance, he talks about how connected a person is socially and then relates that connection to how they affect a tipping point. But before drawing that connection he gives personal examples about how he knows people, from when, from where and how he met them. He then gives a list of random last names that were used on a social test and tells the reader to go through the names to see how they do on the test. As you have your results in mind, he continues to describe how other people he tested fared on the test and what type of person they are. By the time he's done, you're amazed at how precise his results were and how realistic they are to you.
The best part about the book is how convincing and real Gladwell's theory is and how, right from the beginning, he establishes the trust in the reader that leads them to believe his theory.
For instance, in the opening chapter of the book, Gladwell illustrates a simple example about how yawning is contagious. He writes about a page on the subject of yawning being contagious and how just reading, writing or listening to someone yawn can make you yawn. By using such a strange and almost insignificant issue to focus on and then explaining all his tests, he ensures that the reader believes him. And most of the readers from that point on will not be able to doubt what Gladwell says.
In the end, Malcolm Gladwell does what he is supposed to as an author by focusing on something, doing plenty of research and tests and allowing the reader to believe him. By doing this he not only makes his readers yawn and his book successful, but also makes the Tipping Point valid.
Rating: 
Summary: Tipping Points are Everywhere
Review: Books like this one are useful, even if for no other reason, because they give you simple terminology with which to grasp ideas that are intuitively obvious, but heretofore without any real conceptual framework with which to express them. For example, I'm interested in the stock market and have always been fascinated by the way stocks will tread water for a long time, then for no apparent reason suddenly double or triple in value, or drop like a rock. I'm also interested in military history and am intrigued by the way large battles often hang in balance for hours until a few soldiers achieve a breakthrough at one point in the battle line, collapsing it within minutes and triggering a sudden rout of the opposing army. Now I have a convenient word to use when trying to describe these things: stock market moves and military battles are both determined by "tipping points". It's a measure of how far reaching this idea is that Mr. Gladwell at no point in his book even mentions the stock market or warfare, or many of the other areas to which his central idea could be applied. He focuses more on what he calls "social epidemics", like teen-age smoking, and on marketing campaigns. This book is aimed at, probably more than anyone else, marketing professionals, whose jobs can be defined as the development of programs designed to lead to tipping points for their products. The essential phenomenon Mr. Gladwell is getting at here is the arithmetic of exponential growth as applied to the social transmission of ideas and information. If I tell two people about something, and they each tell two more, who in turn tell two more, and so forth, it doesn't take too long before my little idea has enough critical mass suddenly to hit the front page or, depending on its nature, make me rich. That's the tipping point. The trick, of course, is boosting the idea with the momentum necessary for it to sustain itself through this transmission process, and it is to this that Mr. Gladwell devotes his attention. He reduces it all to three variables that he calls The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Having laid out these concepts, he then goes on to describe how they work through an array of "tipping point" applications. This is all very interesting as far as it goes. The problem with the book is that, unfortunately, it never really goes much beyond the realm of Pop Sociology, i.e., one compelling idea forced into a slick and ultimately shallow formula. His three rules, which he elevates into repetitive dogma, are real, but they ultimately fail to explain very much that's not pretty obvious once you've thought about it, and they leave much unexplained. The other problem is Mr.Gladwell's proclivity for digression. He's a science writer by trade and is in love with the mechanics of scientific research. In developing his "stickiness factor" idea, for example, he devotes over 30 pages- more than 10% of his entire text - to describing the exhaustive focus-group research employed by the creators of Sesame Street as they sought to sequence material in their show in such a way as to rivet the attention of children. Similarly, in his discussion of smoking, he tells us much more than we need to hear about the biology of nicotine addition, and he tends to run on like this about every topic he introduces. I actually found most of this interesting enough in its own right, but totally off the subject, and if we reduce The Tipping Point to it's relevant substance, what we would have is nothing much more than a short, provocative essay. Having said all that, I still enjoyed the book and recommend it. Mr. Gladwell is an excellent writer, and the book is lively and easy to get through, digressions and all. It's also been hugely successful, introducing the title phase into contemporary business jargon and illustrating the author's thesis by creating a kind of literary tipping point of its own. However, it would be interesting to see the main ideas stripped of the pop veneer and explored in greater depth at some point in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Does not deliver, this book is just a Hype
Review: The author goes into different tangents not keeping focus on the subject matter. For instance, talks about channel capacity(a psychological phenomenon), no relavence to the chapter or the topic.
The author says a simple thing in so many words. The book could have been written in 5 pages than 200. Also the writer's use of illustrations was poor.
The only insightful point that I got from the book is - "Word of mouth marketing has become very effective. In most cases it is more effective than the conventional methods of marketing"
Rating:
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.
Rating:
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
Rating:
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.
Rating: 
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).
Rating:
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.
Rating:
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.
Rating:
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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