The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Book Review: Entertaining but trivial
Summary: 2 Stars
Of course, the term 'tipping point' predates the book and we are, in the end, told very little we didn't already know. The essentials of the phenomenon are well known, even to children. Gladwell's claim that we can use the book to change outcomes in the real world is unsubstantiated and the examples he gives ultimately bear this out. In one example a footware company uses the principles he elucidates to become hugely successful. Much less is then made of that company's subsequent decline. If they have a winning idea that is of permanent utility why doesn't it continue to work? Gladwell doesn't even gloss over this - he ignores it.
Gladwell's method is thoroughly unscientific and relies on anecdotes and the supposed identification of a set of personality types that are so infrequent, it would appear, that we need to be told about them. These personality types are responsible for much of the way the world works, apparently. Anecdotes are the bane of much of American authorship nowadays and seem to be substitutes for actual knowledge about something, which needs proof. I suspect it has something to do with a culture that is steeped in religious faith (as opposed to the more sceptical European culture). Perhaps Americans are simply accustomed to hearing people make a lot of claims without expecting to provide proof. Bits and bobs of something somewhat scientific are popped in on a couple of occasions to give a little flavour, however.
It also appears that Gladwell has not heard of any alternative theories to explain outcomes - he certainly fails to take other factors into consideration - chaos theory - for example.
What Gladwell does is provide a very readable, light, entertaining book. His anecdotes are entertaining and his people satisfyingly larger than life. I enjoyed most of it although it got significantly weaker towards the end as repetition set in and the plot began to slip. In the end I can't help thinking that those who think the book is a revelation are rather naive.
Book Review: As I sit here...
Summary: 4 Stars
... I found that I could not not review this book. After all, I am currently wearing Hush Puppies, and belong to a major religion that was born out of what Malcolm Gladwell might have described as a 'tipping point' thousands of years ago. In this impulse, Gladwell echoes the words of Margaret Mead, who once said 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' This is the tipping point principle. Gladwell's writing style is up-beat and popular - he is a staff writer for the New Yorker (a popular American periodical), and that style is clearly present in his writing here. Thus, those who appreciate the New Yorker will tend to like this book; those who don't, won't. Gladwell occasionally plays a bit loose with the documentation, and relies much more an anecdotal and consensus opinions than necessarily getting strong, documented proof. Then again, with a principle like the tipping point, this might not be the most important thing in any event - any hard, cold statistical data of the early Christian movement might have dismissed this wandering band of a dozen troublemakers as insignificant.
Some of Gladwell's conclusions are likewise problematic, again based on a more intuitive approach that will appeal to some and not to others. In particular, I would question his liberality of accepting drug use; while one might agree that the war on drugs goes in directions that are less helpful while other problems loom large, I'm not convinced (nor does Gladwell's argument seem very strong in this direction) that permitting or encouraging children this experience is the best course.
Some have begun describing the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster as a tipping point for the economy, but whether this will be a tipping point for good or bad, one cannot say. It is a sad fact of history that often disasters and wars are followed by periods of economic boom.
The term 'tipping point' actually comes from epidemiology, to describe the point at which virus and other infectious agents reach a critical mass sufficient to become an epidemic. The problem with this is that different viral and infectious agents have different tipping points given different conditions, so the idea of universally applying the concept of the tipping point becomes rather like the idea of the hundredth monkey, the idea in social consciousness construction that there is some sort of paradigm shift or mysterious shift in general thought and behaviour once it reaches a critical mass of people.
Do other people wear Hush Puppies now because I have doggedly insisted upon wearing mine since the 1970s (not the same pair, mind you)? Why did they fade out of fashion only to come back in? These are the kinds of issues that the tipping point cannot explain.
This is an interesting text, but more as an intellectual sideline rather than a serious attempt at formulating a universal principle of social behaviour.
Book Review: As I sit here...
Summary: 4 Stars
... I found that I could not not review this book. After all, I am currently wearing Hush Puppies, and belong to a major religion that was born out of what Malcolm Gladwell might have described as a 'tipping point' thousands of years ago. In this impulse, Gladwell echoes the words of Margaret Mead, who once said 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' This is the tipping point principle. Gladwell's writing style is up-beat and popular - he is a staff writer for the New Yorker (a popular American periodical), and that style is clearly present in his writing here. Thus, those who appreciate the New Yorker will tend to like this book; those who don't, won't. Gladwell occasionally plays a bit loose with the documentation, and relies much more an anecdotal and consensus opinions than necessarily getting strong, documented proof. Then again, with a principle like the tipping point, this might not be the most important thing in any event - any hard, cold statistical data of the early Christian movement might have dismissed this wandering band of a dozen troublemakers as insignificant.
Some of Gladwell's conclusions are likewise problematic, again based on a more intuitive approach that will appeal to some and not to others. In particular, I would question his liberality of accepting drug use; while one might agree that the war on drugs goes in directions that are less helpful while other problems loom large, I'm not convinced (nor does Gladwell's argument seem very strong in this direction) that permitting or encouraging children this experience is the best course.
Some have begun describing the recent Hurricane Katrina disaster as a tipping point for the economy, but whether this will be a tipping point for good or bad, one cannot say. It is a sad fact of history that often disasters and wars are followed by periods of economic boom.
The term 'tipping point' actually comes from epidemiology, to describe the point at which virus and other infectious agents reach a critical mass sufficient to become an epidemic. The problem with this is that different viral and infectious agents have different tipping points given different conditions, so the idea of universally applying the concept of the tipping point becomes rather like the idea of the hundredth monkey, the idea in social consciousness construction that there is some sort of paradigm shift or mysterious shift in general thought and behaviour once it reaches a critical mass of people.
Do other people wear Hush Puppies now because I have doggedly insisted upon wearing mine since the 1970s (not the same pair, mind you)? Why did they fade out of fashion only to come back in? These are the kinds of issues that the tipping point cannot explain.
This is an interesting text, but more as an intellectual sideline rather than a serious attempt at formulating a universal principle of social behaviour.
Book Review: Hutterites and Other Noble Successes. Weak Argument.
Summary: 3 Stars
The hype about the book had come and gone. I knew the phrase and how it was used but it was only the recommendation of a friend that sent me to buy the book. The hype is understandable and many of the events and situations used to make the book’s argument were intriguing, attractive and even inspiring.
But the questions began to tumble out as I ploughed through the 59 pages of the Sesame Street chapter. Could I detect a whiff of adulation about the programme rather than a solid contribution to the argument. Actually, did the book have a cohesive argument rather than just a group of anecdotal observations slung together with a few deliciously chosen descriptors (mavens, stickiness factor etc). And increasingly important, did the steady use of 'evidence' from the experiments of sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists really provide the evidence they seemed to indicate?
Take the importance of the size (150 pretty well precisely) of the ideal socialisation group. The outline of the (evolutionary) foundation for this conclusion (Robin Dunbar’s theory of the relationship between the primate neo-cortex and the size of the socialisation group!!) turned out to depend on speculation and guesswork. When I thought about it I came up with a multitude of other organisations which seem to have satisfactory or optimum socialisation limits other than the magical 150.
Indeed for the thought provoking stories about Gore and Sesame Street and the Hutterites (if you do nothing else with this book find out about the Hutterites!) I could think of other organisations which do very nicely thank you without having experienced the same tipping point factors.
OK the 'Broken Windows' account is always inspiring from whatever angle – but even there I found myself beginning to wonder if the real driver was not the small step but the rock hard determination of the implementers.
Nope! This book is over hyped, interesting and not as revealing as it promised to be. Maybe we just need to know that sometimes small things (and sometimes it is only in retrospect that we know which small things) make a big impact. Maybe in our quest for the small tipping point factor we should just keep alert and do our small things well.
Maybe I should have ignored my friend and skipped this book.
Book Review: Pleasant, but not very useful
Summary: 3 Stars
Gladwell clearly makes the case that big events can follow from tiny initial changes, that society has Tipping Points. He illustrates with a number of interesting examples.But this is not actually anything new. Back in about the '70s, people got very excisted about so-called Catastrophe Theory, which modelled Tipping Points mathematically, and for a short while ther was a lot of hype about a scientific way of analysing disasters.
But that fizzled out for the same reason this will. While it shows that systems have Tipping Points, it provides no way of predicting them or recognising them when they turn up. Only when it has passed and the change has occurred can you say "That was a Tipping Point, that was". Only when the knowledge is of no more use wil you know that a Tip has occurred.
So apart from realising thet "just one more push" may have a disproportionate effect and reach a goal that hundreds of similar pushes have failed to do, you learn nothing from this book. But it is a pleasant read.