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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference | 
 enlarge | Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Abacus
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
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Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 315
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0349113467
EAN: 9780349113463
ASIN: 0349113467
Publication Date: February 14, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
 How else can we use the Tipping Point to Improve the World? July 24, 2008
C. Clayton (Tucson AZ)
Malcolm Gladwell explains in his book The Tipping Point that it is possible for ideas, messages and behaviors to spread rapidly. Gladwell argues convincingly that to change an entire population it is not necessary to change everyone, only a small percentage of people.
The book's concept is powerful and explained very well by Gladwell. Only one slight critique. The book could have been much shorter. It provides more examples than necessary to get the point across. Having said that does not take away from the important (and useful) ideas that the book explains!
The point at which the ideas, messages or behaviors of a population changes rapidly is known as the tipping point. Similar to an epidemic, contagious behavior is caused by a small percentage of people.
Changing others by using contagious behavior has significant implications. Much can be accomplished by focusing efforts. Instead of trying to change an entire population, only a small percentage of people need to be convinced to change.
In one story about a tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell discusses how behavior of criminals in New York City was changed. This was done by understanding human behavior and implementing tactics to improve it.
In the 1980s and early 1990's the poor neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York and their streets had every conceivable violent and dangerous crime. Crime was spreading like a virus. To combat it New York needed a stronger vaccine--in essence, an anti-crime preventative.
A common solution for lowering crime is adding more police and jails. However, this only treats the symptoms of the problem. It does nothing to address the cause of crime nor does it lower it.
To solve its crime situation, New York City implemented what is now known as the Broken Windows theory. It was the brainchild of James Q. Wilson and George Kelling who used their Critical Thinking skills to solve a major problem. Their Broken Windows theory states that if a window is broken and left un-repaired then people walking by will assume no one cares and no one is in charge. Graffiti, public disorder and aggressive panhandling are the equivalents of broken windows. They were evidence of the virus that was inviting more serious crimes in New York City.
In other words, when a place is messy, people add to the messiness. That was the root cause of the crime in New York City. The solution that the Broken Windows theory provided was to clean up the city. Then, people would have an inclination to keep it clean. That in turn would reduce the serious crime. The discovery of this simple solution has some startling implications.
The Broken Windows theory solution was put into effect in all of New York City when Rudolph Giuliani became mayor. He appointed William Bratton as chief of police. Both Giuliani and Bratton believed that by controlling the minor and seemingly insignificant quality-of-life crimes they could create a Tipping Point for dropping the crime rate.
Giuliani and Bratton executed a policy to fix all broken windows, stop panhandlers, and paint over graffiti. They literally had the streets cleaned up.
For example, Bratton's police officers arrested people for not paying their train fairs. Although a small crime, these actions sent a signal to the criminal community that crime (any crime) wouldn't be tolerated by the authorities. The offenders were taken to police stations and checked for other outstanding offenses. Seven out of ten had outstanding offenses against them.
In another example, when gang members painted their graffiti overnight on trains, the authorities had the trains re-painted by the next morning. The gang members saw their hard work created overnight eliminated. This helped break their will to paint graffiti.
The broken windows theory worked. Crime dropped precipitously. People started caring; they felt someone was in charge. They began taking better care of their city.
Overall, a great book with powerful concepts. One Burning Question remains after reading this book:
Where else can we apply The Tipping Point to improve the world?
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
 The Tipping Point May 1, 2008
Book Worm (Kent UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
'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.
Brilliant April 7, 2008
Mrs. A. K. Rix (London, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was immediately sucked in with the hypothetical and brilliant example of the outbreak of flu. Thought provoking, facsinating read and left me wanting more.
 Wow March 20, 2008
Howard Pearson (Edinburgh)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent book. I really like Gladwell as an author as he really makes you think. Would recommend this
Interesting read, but be wary of the evidence February 11, 2008
A. Buteux (London)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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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