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Most Helpful Favorable Review
13 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
Does not disappoint.
The book is about the "tipping point", that is, that moment when an idea or social behaviour has reached a level where it "tips" and spreads like crazy.
The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness...Read More
The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness...Read More
The book is about the "tipping point", that is, that moment when an idea or social behaviour has reached a level where it "tips" and spreads like crazy.
The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Taking three rules, then, the book uses them to explain seemingly puzzling epidemic situations in society such as teen smoking or bestsellers.
Fun and interesting, if this kind of topic appeals to you, you'll like the book- its well written and an easy read. Other books that might appeal to general interest readers include The Sixty-Second MotivatorShow Less
The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Taking three rules, then, the book uses them to explain seemingly puzzling epidemic situations in society such as teen smoking or bestsellers.
Fun and interesting, if this kind of topic appeals to you, you'll like the book- its well written and an easy read. Other books that might appeal to general interest readers include The Sixty-Second MotivatorShow Less
posted by 240452 on October 27, 2008
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4 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Here's a tip...
skip this book. I have heard others refer to this book and thought I would see if it had anything motivational or inspirational to offer. I was very disappointed. More or less it is a recap of a few specific companies and several government run systems in NYC that exper...Read More
skip this book. I have heard others refer to this book and thought I would see if it had anything motivational or inspirational to offer. I was very disappointed. More or less it is a recap of a few specific companies and several government run systems in NYC that experienced some
success, unexpectedly. It seems as if the author, Malcolm Gladwell, found some obscure connections that he some how patched together to support a theory he created that was at the root of their succes. I had to force myself to finish this book, just because I hate to to start something and not finish it. Hey, maybe I should write a book about that! Oh, wait a minute, isn' that what the author of The Secret did? hahaShow Less
success, unexpectedly. It seems as if the author, Malcolm Gladwell, found some obscure connections that he some how patched together to support a theory he created that was at the root of their succes. I had to force myself to finish this book, just because I hate to to start something and not finish it. Hey, maybe I should write a book about that! Oh, wait a minute, isn' that what the author of The Secret did? hahaShow Less
posted by SonnyCrockett on August 22, 2009
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Anonymous
Posted October 27, 2008
I Also Recommend:
Does not disappoint.
The book is about the "tipping point", that is, that moment when an idea or social behaviour has reached a level where it "tips" and spreads like crazy.
The book makes sense about how these things happen by using three rules- The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. Taking three rules, then, the book uses them to explain seemingly puzzling epidemic situations in society such as teen smoking or bestsellers.
Fun and interesting, if this kind of topic appeals to you, you'll like the book- its well written and an easy read. Other books that might appeal to general interest readers include The Sixty-Second Motivator13 out of 14 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 9, 2010
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point, explores the phenomenon known as the tipping point. According to Gladwell the tipping point is the moment at which "an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a treshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire". In other words, the point when an idea, trend, or behavior becomes an sensation to the world. Gladwell researches the behaviors of fashion trends, crime rate, and best selling novels to explain how small, yet powerful changes can result in an tipping point.
Gladwell compares the idea of the tipping point to an epidemic of the flu. A simple sneeze from a sick person can start a flu epidemic just as a word of mouth can make an restaurant a big success. Gladwell seperates his book into the three rules of epidemics. The law of the few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context each explain how and why an idea, trend, or behavior results in an epidemic.
Gladwell uses examples such as Paul Revere's midnight ride to support his ideas on epidemics. Malcolm Gladwell states that "Paul Revere's ride is perhaps the most famous historial example of a word-of-mouth epidemic". Gladwell continues by calling Paul Revere a connector, a person who is truly socially diverse. Revere was able contact an abundant amount of people because he was connected with a large amount of diverse people. According to Gladwell, the message itself has to be sticky enough to make people listen and respond. The message "the British are coming" was a sticky phrase that made the message itself important enough to respond to. Malcolm Gladwell's context law states at the enviroment at which a message is sent also makes an impact. Paul Revere sent his message in the evening because the majority of people are sleeping and when they are woken up by a noise they are more susceptible to listen.
The Tipping Point is a brilliantly written book that will change your outlook on famous fashion trends, falling crime rates, and the success of best selling novels. Malcolm Gladwell uses interesting examples throughout to make his book an enjoyable read. By the end of this book Gladwell will make you believe that any immovable object can be tipped if it is pushed in the right place.6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Here's a tip...
skip this book. I have heard others refer to this book and thought I would see if it had anything motivational or inspirational to offer. I was very disappointed. More or less it is a recap of a few specific companies and several government run systems in NYC that experienced some
success, unexpectedly. It seems as if the author, Malcolm Gladwell, found some obscure connections that he some how patched together to support a theory he created that was at the root of their succes. I had to force myself to finish this book, just because I hate to to start something and not finish it. Hey, maybe I should write a book about that! Oh, wait a minute, isn' that what the author of The Secret did? haha4 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Although a catchy title, but the content is quite the opposite
I bought the book upon the terrific description of the content by the publisher. It seemed very interesting how they described the sociological manipulation done by companies and governement. I started reading the book but from the first chapter, it seemed that the writer kept on repeating the same concept the same action over and over again. I put it down for a bit, started reading other chapters so I may be interested again but it didn't happen. The same boring descriptions, the same concepts, repetitious stories went on and on again without any analysis of the process. If there was research done, I didn't get the legistic of it and I definitely didn't get the writing tipping point. He didn't introduce any new ideas on how the manipulation of the society is done by the media, the elite few with money who pull the string at their whim....New concept? hardly! researached analysis? if there was one...poorly done.
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 1, 2005
This book is the cure. . . for insomnia.
Couldn't get more than 100 pages into it. Over used coincidences throughout the book on trends and fads- I get it- let's move on!! Could have been interesting if it was 20 pages long.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Chantalaimee
Posted May 2, 2010
Intriguing explanation of epidemics
This book was very intriguing in explaining the causes of fads and why things get popular. The examples talked about are really interesting like how Sesame Street came to be and what makes a sales person so successful. Gladwell uses examples to make his point fully comprehendible and interesting. He explains and analyzes studies of human behavior to conclude to several rules about the tipping point of products. It is a book worth reading! :D
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Cohan
Posted February 6, 2010
A collection of the author's personal opinions on complex matters
The book is merely a collection of the author's personal opinions on complex psychological and sociological subjects of which he does not appear to have mastery. In addition, the author references many inconclusive studies, or his own broad non-scientific observations in asserting conclusions that cannot possibly be proven. This is another of many recent texts that lack any useful substance from self-anointed psych gurus.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Make You Smarter
There are some books you read that just make you feel smarter after reading them. This is certainly one of them! The concepts are thought provocking and well written. Malcolm uses examples and studies that relate to everyone. It's not just for students or bussiness people, its for EVERYONE!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 17, 2005
waste of time
In a nutshell, this book is not worth your time . It's scatter brain, unsystematic, and backed up with pop psychology. The title, press praise, and introduction are promising but the book unravels after a couple dozen pages. With little structure or direction in this book, you skip from TV experiments with kids to crime fighting in New York. A good fifty pages is devoted to how Sesame Street was tested on kids. Yet another forty or so are devoted to how the New York crime wave ended 20 years ago. Then the last chapter is devoted to teen smoking and why it's popular. Intermingled are sketches of ideas that are 'sticky,' and people who are categorized as 'salesmen,' 'connectors' or 'mavens'. Apparently, these people, in some combination over time can cause tipping points. Gladwell spends most of his time talking about details of what led up to a tipping point, but then spends no time talking about the actual point of change. It just happens, like a landslide. In his example of Airwalk shoes, the story goes from the product being on a fringe market to a major brand thanks to a marketing campaign. Then the New York crime wave ends with the subway clean-up. It all sounds like great hind sight. Gladwell ignores failures, ideas, people, or things and didn't reach a tipping point. He doesn't address the history of tipping points or how other cultures may respond to different stimulus than our US society. Essentially, he does not examine the problem in a philosophical way - what makes good ideas spread. Lastly, it's annoying to see Gladwell capitalizing 'tipping point' in reference to an event, as if he managed to coin the phrase himself. Please, save yourself some money and don't buy this book.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted April 10, 2011
really good- a must read, very educational
In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point many different topics are discussed and analyzed, trying to find solutions as to why things "tip" and what different factors are involved. From "Blues Clues", and Paul Revear's midnight ride to the decrease in crime in NYC and the cause of suicide in the islands of Micronesia, it is shown that the factors of stickiness, connectivity, context and salesmen qualities play a major part in the way different events tip and spread. One big theme in Gladwell's book that made it effective was the repetitive mentioning of Connectors, people who know a lot of other people, and can spread ideas through multiple communities, making ideas contagious. Adding to this theme Gladwell outlines the concept of "stickiness", illustrating people who hear about a new ideas remember them, and in some way do something about the situation. Throughout the whole book Gladwell has the great ability to draw the reader into simple concepts with examples and stories, resulting in the reader being able to recognizing themselves in the examples and stories and seeing where they would put themselves if they were in those situations, allowing them to think what they would do to change the situation at hand. While reading this book I was interested in the way Gladwell enhanced his theories with concrete examples and stories, making the book very effective in getting his point across. Although I cannot agree with all his points and solutions to some of the situations and theories, I thought this book was very well written and very educational, giving the reader many things to think about, allowing their brains to adapt to something new and synthesize the information. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone; it includes great topics of discussion making the book good for classes to read together and discuss the different theories together.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Very repetitive
I had heard all the hype about "The Tipping Point" from friends and colleagues and after struggling to get through it I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. The "Ah Ha!" moments were few and far between because of the repetitive nature of Gladwell's examples. It was almost to the point of beating a dead horse by the end of it.
Ultimately, the book has some interesting points but they are just made too often and over and over again. Gladwell definitely did his homework, but I won't be picking up any more of his books. Quite disappointed.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Dr-Sling
Posted May 27, 2010
The Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell gracefully describes the ways in which a trend or fad becomes a ubiquitous social norm in The Tipping Point. His compelling discussions make comparisons to seemingly unrelated events, such as the spread of S.T.D.'s and Paul Revere's midnight ride, and reveal their inherent, universal similarities. His subject material is presented with humor and coherence, and can be appreciated by high school students and college professors alike. No matter what you expect to get from this book, whether it be required reading for a class or something to skim through before bed, you will not be disappointed by The Tipping Point.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 17, 2010
The Tipping Point
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a really extraordinary novel that explores sociological studies and interesting occurrences in life. It shows the little, random and amazing things that happen and make a big difference. The book contains the three main ideas that drive the studies to seem so unusual; the Law of Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of Few means that a couple of people have a more significant influence on things that happen than the rest of society. The Stickiness Factor is the concept that repetition is a very impactful strategy that causes people to remember things more easily. The Power of Context is how a little change in the circumstances of an environment can have an impact on the events that occur there. So when all of these things are studied and really paid attention to, it is bizarre how they apply to these theories and are important to society. When I began to read this book, I realized that it was different from anything I've ever read before. It opened my eyes to the fact that such little things really can make a huge impact on things. It was a unique perspective on sociological studies and unique occurrences that happen every day. " If you want to bring a fundamental change in people's belief and behavior. you need to create a community around them, where those new beliefs can be practiced and expressed and nurtured." I thought that this was an insightful and thoughtful quote. It demonstrated the great advice that Gladwell brings to the novel. His writing style is very creative and particular. I thought he was a very good author to write about such a topic and brought a very interesting aspect and point of view to everything.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Tayl-C
Posted May 3, 2010
The Tipping point
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because of all of the little ways I connected to the "meat" of the story. For example, when Gladwell explained educating children through television rather then having television being a bad influence on the developmental learning of a child caught me by surprise. When he said "Sesame Street" was the first television program to educate children, I realized that when I was a young kid and used to watch that, how many "mini life lessons" were included in each and every episode. This novel really opened my eyes into all the information that can merely be obtained by just reading this book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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KrissyLG
Posted May 2, 2010
I Also Recommend:
The Tipping Point captures essence of society
I had been vaguely attracted to Gladwell's work, particularly after reading a similarly engaging exploration of sociology, economy, and society in general (Freakonomics). I discovered only a couple of chapters in to The Tipping Point that Gladwell may very well be a pioneer in his thoughts regarding the spread of ideas. I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered why some things become prominent in society while other ideas fizzle out.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Detailed
Malcolm Gladwell makes it easy to understand the complexities that are responsible for the spread of ideas, trends, etc. After reading this book those complexities seem more like common sense. It's made clear that many of the details that we consider to be small are often the most important. His concepts are backed by entertaining true stories that will open your eyes to a new aspect of the world.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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donchian1
Posted November 9, 2009
I Also Recommend:
The point of The Tipping Point
Donchian Murray
Period.1
Nov-9-09
Econ'
Mr. Jimenez
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell, Pub. 1-7-2002, 304 Pg.
Born September 3, 1963 in London, He studied at the University of Toronto and received his bachelor's degree in History in 1984 before moving to the U.S. to become a journalist. Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Sees.
The point of Malcolm Gladwell's masterpiece The Tipping Point is to explain as clearly as possible the "magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire." Malcolm Gladwell calls this the "Tipping Point" and explains how it governs epidemics that society relies upon for economic fuel.
First off, The Tipping Point Is a composition of three hundred and four, one page long, factual vignettes infinitely secreting knowledge for the reader to absorb and process to use the rest of their life. Malcolm Gladwell analyzes a trend that he has noticed in the western world's economy. Gladwell describes the trend he has noticed as a "tipping point". Gladwell states,
"Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." (The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell; Pg.7.)
Throughout The Tipping Point, Gladwell explains his finding's using frequent examples that are easy to remember. He explains that crime can be massively spread and traced back to a single event or person that got the crime epidemic going. He explains how a fashion trend can spread like a Std. As he always does, Malcolm Gladwell concludes The Tipping Point with an enlightening thought. "In a world dominated by isolation and immunity, understanding these principles of word of mouth is more important than ever." (Pg. 280)
"Undeniably compelling..Terrifically rewarding."
- Claire Deberer, Seattle Times
"A fascinating book that makes you sees the world in a different way."
- Fortune1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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BeijingSteamer
Posted September 13, 2009
I Also Recommend:
Great information, all right flow.
I thought the book was interesting with the presentation of facts and case studies. However, Outliers-- his other book-- has a far better flow. I recommend this for people who love to gain knowledge.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Get to the Point
Unfortunately, this book was just another disappointment in the world of self-help and business-oriented books. Instead of delivering on the promise of the title, the book fell short of any concrete, relevant point.
A simple reader will find much useful information in the book. But as a business owner, and as an individual who already understands the concepts written in this book, I have found nothing new - and nothing revolutionary about what it contains.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Jefferson_Thomas
Posted May 31, 2009
Read this book, but . . .
Everybody should read this book, but bear the following in mind: Gladwell makes his point perfectly adequately in the introduction via the Hush Puppies example, but then spends the rest of the book belaboring the point instead of expanding on it. I wanted to yell, "I BELIEVE you already -- what ELSE to you have to say??"
Nevertheless, everyone should read this book, because it explains an interesting phenomenon we all see in our society nearly every day: exactly what DOES cause one fad (or problem, or solution to a problem) to take hold while another is stillborn? Why skateboards instead of the continued existence of roller skates? Why pet rocks, mood rings and smiley faces? Why did yoyo's, a toy from the ancient, discarded 1950's, suddenly experience a big surge in popularity in the late 1960's? Insights into questions like these are a big part of the value of this book, so I recommend it.1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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