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Summary: The selling point
Review: This book seems to have done well only because it has the attraction of the gullible audiences who read the business self help books that are all so similarly vacuous. There are a few interesting points here (perhaps where networks are concerned), but what is troubling is the authority Gladwell feels he possesses with the "evidence" he has to back up his theories. Few of the studies he provides conclusively support his ideas, and some of the studies themselves come to dubious conclusions provided he portrayed them correctly. THE TIPPING POINT is really an example of poor social science from an author who has obviously read a freshman year psychology textbook at some point in his life, but who doesn't give much thought to what you can reasonably infer from statistical data. He tries to explain the world with his "tipping point" theory and, in order to accomplish the task, he simplifies complex processes like crime and smoking to a point where his "theory" becomes more like a marketed product than science. This isn't too surprising. After all, he wants to show how marketing can change the world. Gladwell says he's not a Connector. But he's also not a Maven who's in the know. He's a Salesman, and if you're not careful, he's likely to persuade you into buying this book.
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Summary: WoW
Review: This book boggles the mind...makes one think of how much control one actually have in this world...
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Summary: Eye Opening & Enlightening
Review: Wow, Marvelous book!! I can't stop reading the book once I started and therefore I finished the book in 3 after-dinner evenings. There are just too many new insights and information. Need to read it more times later to review some of the key points. In essence, the book talks about a simple theory of how things, ideas, products in this world being spread out and hit the "Tipping Point". A lot of real life examples and a lot of reference information from sociology, psychology and marketing research are used. The book will surprise you with a different perspective about how things happen in the world. Good for the businessworld as well in marketing new products and ideas. A must read, please !!
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Summary: Very interesting premise and conclusions, a little slow
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book, it has a very interesting premise and definitely delivers on it. Using examples from biology (epidemics of AIDS, flu), history (Paul Revere), and pop culture (Kevin Bacon's six degrees), the author is able to create a framework to help understand how epidemics (of any sort) begin and end. His framework is based on three components that make it both easy to understand and to apply. I have two objections, however. One, perhaps the author is not familiar with differential equations, but the book could have benefited from a few pages on the actual mathematics of the so called "tipping point". Two, the author often goes into excrutiating detail (especially when he writes about Blues Clues) when it seems unnecessary. I definitely recommend this book, but feel free to skip the portion about Blues Clues.
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Summary: Bowled me over.
Review: This book is quite wonderful, and it doesn't surprise me at all that it's getting such solid reviews here. Gladwell writes wonderful pieces for the New Yorker (and elsewhere, no doubt), and the craft of the writing here combines with fascinating material to produce a book for the lively of mind. What is a "tipping point"? Gladwell shows us how concepts and perceptions derived from epidemiology can provide unexpected, but highly plausible explanations for the transformation of a minor phenomenon into a major trend. Gladwell's examples are diverse, drawn from such apparently disparate worlds as policing, fashion, and medical research, but they work well to create a sense that there's a logic at play in the crazes and fads we see turn into cultural trends. Obviously, this book would be a good read for anyone interested in forcasting consumer behaviour, and other business concerns. I read it, though, as a person interested in culture and the trends which form the fabric of our waking lives. I read it twice, in fact, because it's very well written, and because I used it to teach theories of information to university students, who also really "got" the book. I find that concepts drawn froom the book return to me in unlikely situations, and that's a true test of non-fiction. My only complaint? It's not long enough!
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Summary: Highly informative, deeply engrossing, excellent writing
Review: If you are like this reviewer, you are skeptical of best-selling books with catchy titles that seem to explain a huge range of phenomena with a simple formula. The Tipping Point may appear to be such a book. However, Malcolm Gladwell's excellent articles overcame my resistance and led to the discovery of a book rich in intriguing ideas and details that may indeed explain a surprising range of cultural and market-based behavior. Gladwell makes no hard claims for the scientific nature of his views, although he draws on plenty of published psychological and marketing research. The core idea is that a small but precisely targeted push can create a fashion trend, the outsize success of a new product, or a major drop in the crime rate. Most of the ideas in this book have clear application to marketing, and others to effective decision-making at many levels of business. Traditional economics, which revolves around an idealistic model of rational agents, has done a fairly poor job of providing practical uses for business and has been under attack from more psychologically realistic sources. Gladwell's book is a worthy addition to this corrective literature.
Starting with the compelling story of Paul Revere's remarkably effective nighttime ride warning of imminent British military activity, Gladwell introduces three rules of epidemics explored in depth in subsequent chapters: The Law of the Few (Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen), The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. The book elegantly and compellingly weaves these rules through discussions of diverse events and cultural epidemics, from New York crime and the revival of Hush Puppies to the popularity of Sesame Street and Airwalk sneakers and the causes of teenage smoking and suicide epidemics. Not every strand of thought of completely convincing, but the quality of discussion is high, assuming that Gladwell has accurately represented the research on which he draws. This book makes for a fascinating read with a high "stickiness factor" and probably contains more actionable strategic and marketing ideas than most hardcore business books.
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Summary: Eye-opening thought process
Review: I saw a write up of this author in Fortune small business and found the idea intriguing. I have read several books on the subject of word of mouth - how ideas and products spread into the population at large. The most intriguing thing this author pointed out was how little things can make a huge difference. It turns most people's assumptions completely upside down. We assume that in order to make a big impact, there must be a big spashy ad campaign, or some other earth shaking revelation....nothing could be further from the truth. I thought the sesame street story ran a bit long, but the concept is interesting enough that I finished the book in just a few hours and a week later, have told dozens of people about it....hmmm...I must be a translator according to his description.
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Summary: Not Just for Marketers....
Review: Gladwell makes a convincing case for reexamining how we market and why, regardless of how we define product (be it a physical product, a cultural norm, a political ideology, an educational system, or a religion. Incredibly engaging, well-written, and thought-provoking, this book is also a great choice for readers who wish to examine further the nurter/nature debate.
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Summary: Not bad, but rather simple
Review: The Tipping Point is filled with informative and interesting anecdotes about how things "tip". These tidbits make for good reading, particularly on a bus or a lazy Sunday morning. But overall, the book left me feeling a bit empty inside. We are led to believe that the Tipping Point phenomenon is of some great importance and use...this is being marketed as a business book, after all...but the reality is that the ideas are fairly banal and the actual application of them are not beyond what a common-sense marketing director would come up with on his own. That said, it's worth the read if just to be able to converse with others about the "Tipping Point" concept.
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Summary: The Tipping Point
Review: Mr. Gladwell is explaining his idea through many different stories about how the smallest almost oblivious people or things reffered to as "The Tipping Point" can have a significant effect on us and our world. My personal opinion is I find there might be some truth to Mr. Gladwell's idea of looking at things differently. Much of what he says makes a lot of sense. Sometimes it is the little things that do make a big difference. The main conclution is "The Tipping Point" but there are many different premis such as "The three rules of epidemics" chp. 1 talks about the different reasons why epidemics tip for Ex: There is documentation that nearly 40 people 1st diagnosed with the HIV virus in the early 1980's found that the same man was the one who infected them. He not only had AIDS but slept with more than 2,500 partners. Mr. Gladwell then says " These are the kinds of people that make disease tip." The law of the few chp2 talks about connectors(people who have a knack for connecting people) Mavens( people who pay huge attention to detail and have a lot of uncommon knowledge) and Salesman (people who are very optimistic and personable) The Stickyness Factor chp3 makes a clear point to the fact that if something doesnt stick people are probly less likely to remember it. For instance in advertising if your ad doesnt "stick" then it probly won't do as-well as if it did "stick". Same goes for an idea or speech. The power of context Chp4-5 talks about how in NY simply cleaning up subways and policing token turnstyles once seemed to be a small problem compared to the muggings and assaults that went on. It was then found that changing the small problems actually began to change the big problems. My personal opinion again is that Mr. Galdwell's book does give a good convincing argument. He expresses his views very strongly and very clear. He uses many stories and studies and personal meeting's with the individuals he talks about in his book. The only possible logical fallacies that I found are Appeal to pity, Quesionable cause and The Slippery Slope. The argument is complete and inductivly strong. Mr.Gladwell keeps everything consistant. Even reffering back to previous examples throughout the book so that you dont forget that each example ties into the big picture.The Tipping Point. Finally, Mr.Gladwell's book points at an almost obscure part of life, the smallest parts that once tipped can have a huge impact.The 3 Rules of Epidemics, The Law of the Few, The Stickyness Factor and The Power of Context are the names given in his book to a group of people or things that can tip. "Tipping Points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you, it may seem like an imovable, inplacable place. It is not, with the slightest push- in just the right place- it can be tipped"
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