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

What, you might ask, is this undiscovered idea? Why its the principle of exponential growth, the idea that the new amount of some quantity being measured is proportional to the initial amount rather than a constant (linear) increase. This is captured in the mathematics that describes how epidemics spread, populations grow (well known to Malthus more than a century ago), radioactivity decays, and so on. And this idea lends the book its title; in an epidemic when the ratio exceeds 1 the infection will spread rapidly; hence it has passed the "tipping point".

I don't mean to demean Gladwell's book; it is actually quite well written and loaded with interesting examples of this principle at play. For this alone the book is worth reading.

But what is more illuminating than the examples Gladwell gives is what the critical response to the book says about the mathematical illiteracy of today's intellectual. Exponential growth & decay is a trivial concept to anyone who's ever taken a serious science class, even at the high school level. So the response by the learned community to so simple a concept is a profound confirmation of the reality of Snow's observation. Apparently this simple concept has escaped the intellectuals who shower accolades on this book for providing such fresh insight and perspective.

In the end I am both saddened and gladdened by this book. Gladdened because the book provides novel examples of a well-known principle in action. Saddened because the intellectual world is so surprised by a concept from the scientific/mathematic world as simple as exponential growth.


Smart Writing   March 20, 2000
 5 out of 24 found this review helpful

Mr. Gladwell seems to be able to write about anything and do it well. I think this is the kind of material my friend Bob could build an hour long TV show around.


EXCELLENT BOOK FOR THE NON-SCIENCE OREINTED   March 18, 2000
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I have read many technical/scientific books on epidemics and psychology, but what sets Gladwell's book apart is the manner in which he presents his information. It is an easy read, unlike many "scientific texts" and there is much to learn from this book. I highly recommend this book to someone who is interested in psychology/society but doesn't want to get bogged down with the technical terminology.


Brilliant Mind Candy   March 18, 2000
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

Well-written, faxcinating, offbeat and full of information no one else knows. Makes you rethink a lot of social cause and effect conventional knowledge. Ignore the carping reviews; they're just showing off.


Fascinating Insights!   March 16, 2000
 44 out of 49 found this review helpful

I began reading this book at night while others were asleep, and was immediately engrossed--the next morning I could not stop babbling about it, and made everyone try the list of names in the section on "Connectors" to see how they scored. Though I came in at an abysmally low "3" myself, I did act the roles of "Maven" and "Salesman" for the book, with my own tiny circle of friends, emailing the NY Times review of "The Tipping Point", published the day I finished reading the book, to everyone I could think of, saying, you must buy this book, the way Gladwell explains himself, the anecdotes provided, was one of the most interesting things I had read in ages. When I bought "The Tipping Point", intrigued by the jacket description, but knowing nothing about it, I did not realize that Gladwell was a New Yorker writer I had long admired. But once I started in, I recognized him and remembered how I had sent on several of his articles to friends--which amused me, and is part of why I score so poorly on the "Connector test", my lack of attention to names, despite fervent endorsement of "ideas" I find, to everyone I know. Along these lines, a book that had a similar impact on me, would be "Presidential Temperament" by Keirsey and Choiniere, a blend of theory about human differences, with vivid real world examples drawn from the Presidents, a method of analysis that just makes intuitive sense of people, the way Gladwell does here with social trends, very useful information for an election year, a book I enthusiastically endorse as much as this one.