Rating: 
Summary: Assigned reading for the DNC!!
Review: OK - so I am on the "laggard" end of the bell curve and only discovered this book after devouring "Blink" in a single sitting. (Also a great book)
EVERY Democrat needs to read this book. (Gov. Dean are you listening?) And EVERYONE interested in social movements and social change - whether it's in your neighborhood or at the global level - needs to read this book.
Republicans, under the leadership of former niche marketer Karl Rove already understand the dynamics described here. So does Osama bin Laden, et al.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre thinking wins once again!
Review: Simplistic pop culture. Pseudo-science wrapped in the guise of profundity. A waste of time for any right thinking, concerned individual.
I grow so weary of the AVALANCHE of trendy, pop-culture, pseudo-science books that is sweeping over the literary landscape today. Can someone please help me spell gobbily-gook?
Rating: 
Summary: His Paul Revere Story makes his claims suspects
Review: The book Claims that people listned to Paul Revere because he was of the right personality for people to listen. But in truth we now about Revere's ride because of the poem. Revere left Boston around 10 PM. Along the road to Lexington, he warned residents that "the British are coming!" He arrived in Lexington around midnight riding a borrowed horse. At 1 AM, Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott left for Concord. Revere was captured. Only Prescott got through to Concord.
So the people of lexington listend because he was the only one riding at the time. The people of Concord didn't listen becuse he never made it.
So that makes me question the premise of the book. It may be well written but as far as for the contents ????? what else is misintepreted.
Read it for entertaiment not any scientific or profound meaning.
Rating:
Summary: Three Cardinal Principles
Review: The Tipping Point-Malcolm GladwellThis 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.
Rating:
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!
Rating:
Summary: Esoterica
Review: This is a fun book to read, but the dots remain uncconected.
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I much prefer works that are more practical, and guide you directly to where you are going, instead of this very indirect analysis.
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Some examples of this direct approach which are exceptionally well done include the CD "Voice Lessons to go" and the DVD "New Sex Now."
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All of these are fun and enjoyable and will improve your life.
Rating:
Summary: good and bad
Review: well i suppose like any book it has its good points and its bad points. some things i liked, some things i didn't like. some things i enjoyed, some things I didn't. some stories were interesting, some weren't. you just have to read the book yourself and stop depending on other people to give you all the answers.
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