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: Fascinating yet simple and entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
This book gives a fascinating account of how mass movements and social trends develop and spread so explosively in so little time. Far from being a dry, jargon packed sociology book, this is written in a flowing and down to earth writing style that is very appealing. The writer goes into detail about how different types of people, message and environment interact to either make or a break an "epidemic", be it drug use or fashion trends. One of the most useful features of the book is how the author repeatedly reminds us where we are up to in this analysis, so we never forget what important points that have been raised in previous chapters are relevant to the current one. The author manages to do this in such a way as to never seem patronising, which there is always the potential for with this kind of approach. Another excellent feature is how after every principle is introduced, a famous real life example is given, so we can instantly match the abstract concept to real life. This really helps his analysis come to life, and ensures we fully understand the points raised.
One minor weakness of the book is the authors long description of his personal acquaintances whom he feels exemplify the themes he discusses. unlike the historical real life examples he gives, it is hard for us to see his point when applied to people we do not know and will never meet. This is however only a minor weakness, and is made up for by his use of real life famous historical examples as well. The book is a very pleasant read, and deservedly gets full marks.
Book Review: A Good book...A great idea - now part of business vocabulary
Summary: 5 Stars
The phrase "The Tipping Point" has entered the business vocabulary. It is a great idea and this book is well written and very interesting - but even though it is a short book - it is overlong. The idea is explained in the first few chapters...and then it just repeats itself. A great book all the same.Book Review: "So what?" some thing's got tipped
Summary: 2 Stars
I am going to write my honest view of the book and i won't exaggerate it with criticisms or with overly praisy words.
The book title is a little mismatch. Even though I read the title(the front page) and the back cover and a little bit kf the introduction, I was taken by surprise when i realised what the book is about. In short and simple words, for me it is about coincidence, accidental iccidences or the luck factor that happen or may exist in life. Yet, the author tries to give a scientific explanation to all these, for example, how the Hush Puppy got a famous name, how come some people got so many friends than others and how some kids stopped committing suicide. Surely, at the beginning you will be entertained by the book and by the set of facts that it provides. Then in the middle and end of the book, I got tired of all these "that and this happened then that and this changed" facts and somehow I found myself asking questions like "So what?", "unexpected events happen all the time, so what?", "Should I be surprised by these facts again?". Overall, if you enjoy a book like Genius Book of Records then you might enjoy the book. For me it was not a worthwile read.
Book Review: Buy it if...
Summary: 4 Stars
Too many reviews have already been written about this book so I'll keep it brief and be careful not to go over old ground. Instead I'll just try to help you work out whether or not you should buy it: 1) Buy it if you've ever had an inkling that the stuff you've read in sociology or marketing textbooks may well have been a load of cobblers. 2) Buy it if you've ever had an inkling that the stuff you've read in politics or history textbooks may well be a load of cobblers. 3) Basically, buy it if you're an inquisitive kind of person who isn't satisfied with our culture's tendency towards over simplistic narratives. This book will be a breath of fresh air to you. PS - It would get 5 stars but it starts repeating itself about 2/3s of the way through. Book Review: Entertaining if somewhat US-centric
Summary: 4 Stars
During an easy 2-4 hour read, Gladwell attempts to describe the components of a macro effect - the sudden change in prevalence of a product, behavior or social paradigm - in an entertaining and accessible manner. Although superficially quite similar to Freakonomics, it differs by seeking to explain diverse events using a unified theory (tipping points and diffusion effects) rather than illustrating different theories through case studies. I enjoyed Freakonomics more, but speaking to a number of people, preference seems to be correlated strongly with whichever of the two you read first. That said, some of the examples are pretty good (STDs in a US town used to illustrate the popularity of a particular type of sports shoe!). Worth a quick read even if you've read Freak'