 A Very Thoughtful Book About Cultural Trend-Setting 7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point considers the elements needed to make a particular movement gain mass appeal. The title concept, "tipping point," occurs when something that began small- a few funky kids in New York's East Village wearing Hush Puppies- turns into something very large- millions of Hush
Puppies are sold. According to the author, the success of advancing any idea depends on three rules: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.
Gladwell offers a theory of social dynamics that he contends will provoke a mass behavioral change. He offers numerous anecdotes to make his point: Paul Revere's ride, the creation of the children's TV program Sesame Street, and the influence of subway shooter Bernie Goetz. After analyzing a number of fascinating psychological studies, he propses that tipping points occur when subtle alterations in the environment, such as the eradication of graffiti, are enacted by a small number of people who act as connectors, mavens, and salesmen. As he applies his strikingly counter-intuitive hypotheses to everything from the "stickiness," or popularity, of certain children's television programs to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, Gladwell reveals that our cherished belief in the autonomy of the self is based, in
great part, on wishful thinking.
Tipping Point has the feel of a cut-and-paste narrative- which is probably attributable to Gladwell's journalistic background- and is definitely not the stuff of deep academic research, or sociological thought. It is, however, an entertaining read that I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND and should affirm what we already knew, if we were honest with ourselves.
Review ID: 10000000009659310  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.  Fascinating look at the dynamics of social acceptance 5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Gladwell's ideas about why certain products and ideas spread and reach "the tipping point" of widespread usage or knowledge, thus entering our popular culture and general awareness. The theme of his outstanding book is that little things add up to make a big difference.
He uses a variety of disparate but interesting examples to elaborate on his ideas, including Hush Puppy shoes, Paul Revere's midnight ride, Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, a syphilis epidemic in Baltimore, athletic gear, and many more. He points to three categories of people as being key influencers in the process of spreading the word: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen, although he doesn't offer a lot of help in terms of how to actually find and motivate such individuals if you're looking to actually create a word-of-mouth marketing plan.
In other words, this book is a feast of ideas and new perspectives rather than a step-by-step "How-To" guide. It had me thinking of applications and possibilities throughout my initial reading, and is the kind of book that would probably be just as enlightening on a second read: I certainly plan on reading it at least one more time.
If you're in marketing, public relations, sales, engineering, sociology, or are just a creative type interesting in how and why things happen the way they do, I would recommend this book as must reading.
I would imagine others might find it a bit intellectual, somewhat detached from everyday experience, and perhaps even irrelevant; however, don't let my imaginings about who might NOT like it deter you if it sounds interesting. I found it remarkably interesting and even fascinating, and it offers excellent encouragement to keep going to those who would like to see their efforts eventually pay off big. You can eventually reach that illusive tipping point of wealth or greatness only after a lot of small things fall into place first - and that's an idea and message I found enormously comforting and valuable.
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