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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Hardcover)

by Malcolm Gladwell (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown (4 May 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316648523
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316648523
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 337,319 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of mimetics will recognise this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanise the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston", he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point", like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan



GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

'Hip and hopeful, THE TIPPING POINT is like the idea it describes: concise, elegant but packed with social power.'
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Customer Reviews

73 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (73 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Does not disappoint., 8 Oct 2008
This review is from: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Paperback)
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 Motivator.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, but be wary of the evidence, 11 Feb 2008
By A. Buteux "adam_buteux" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Paperback)
For the most part a great read. However, Mr Gladwell's use of evidence is very selective and the ambiguity of some of the conclusions from some of the studies is just ignored to fit Gladwell's argument. The studies used have been talked about in other books such as Freakanomics, and the way that they are used here to try and prove the concept of the book should be viewed with caution. The central idea of the book is very simple and reasonably logical, so the poor use of evidence does not distract too much.
Ultimately an interesting, enjoyable read, just a shame that it wasn't better researched.
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33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars The Tipping Point, 1 May 2008
By Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Paperback)
'The Tipping Point' is another entertaining, yet laboured book from Malcolm Gladwell. Like 'Blink' you get an interesting premise, explained very well at the beginning of the book, followed by 150 pages going over the same ground in greater depth. Once you've grasped the initial concept and had it proven with a few examples, you don't really need to go over it much more. Saying that, this book is an entertaining read and has some wonderful examples to illustrate the various points. I particularly enjoyed the chapter exploring the benefits, and tipping point of, sesame street and blues clues. Other chapters though, like the one on suicide and smoking, are pretty aimless and take a long time to make a very minor, insignificant point. This book is worth a read if you liked 'Blink' and it has some interesting ideas explored in it. If you like this I'd recommend 'Predictably irrational' which has similar experiments and is more coherent and focused. In fact, I'd probably recommend that book before this one. This is a good read, but not a great read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very carefully developed
Another interesting book from Gladwell with a very carefully developed structure that gradually builds upon the previous examples and themes. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Sulkyblue

2.0 out of 5 stars The tipping point..how little things can make a big difference
I didn't it was so good...just didn't really do it for me. I found it hard to finish.
Published 1 month ago by Sean Mullin

4.0 out of 5 stars really gets you thinking
A group of us meet as a 'business book club' and this is our chosen book for the next meeting. I had read the reviews and was prepared for an interesting read but some of the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Carole Manship

5.0 out of 5 stars Gladwell Makes Abstract Concepts Understandable
If Malcolm Gladwell wrote about geometry, not only would I finally understand it, I would actually care. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Graceann Macleod

5.0 out of 5 stars A work of genius
Brilliant. This book is a work of genius. Gladwell does a fantastic job of getting his ideas across. His writing style is very easy to follow and understand. Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. Nelson

1.0 out of 5 stars High soporific value
High soporific value
`The Tipping Point' is typical of many (most) non-fiction books that come out of America - verbose explanations of the simplest of topics. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Trevor Johnson

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing, if a little repetitive
An interesting if occasionally laboured examination of the sociological factors that contribute to a 'tipping point', that moment when an idea, message or behaviour spreads... Read more
Published 7 months ago by S. Malpas

4.0 out of 5 stars A book to make you think
This book was recommended to me and given I respect the person who recommended it I figured I'd give it a go. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Claire Bedrock

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting thoughts on what makes ideas stick
This is a fascinating and thought provoking book that looks at how ideas and behaviours reach and pass through a threshold beyond which they spread like wildfire... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Steven Unwin

4.0 out of 5 stars Another way of expressing the dialectics of qualitative change
Read with interest this little book that applies a well know dialectical materialist analysis to the examples cited. Read more
Published 9 months ago by R. Chang

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