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

There are few books that introduce a new idea that can be applied to multiple disciplines - The Tipping Point is a thought-provoking and well-written book in that category. This book contains more than an idea: it introduces a new way of understanding what often seems like major changes that appear to come from little or often unknown effort. It attempts to answer an obvious question: Why do some ideas, products, fads, and behaviors just seem to explode into popularity, while others-- which may be equally worthy-- just don't? Malcolm Gladwell's answer is that "epidemics" of popularity are the result of the operation of three agents: The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. He delivers the evidence that backs up what he is saying, and he makes everything clear and entertaining. He uses concrete examples that really bring home his points, even the ones that at first just don't "add up" because conventional thinking tells you the opposite must be true. As a whole, this book is one of those rare gems that make you truly THINK about the world around you in a whole new way. It has simple ideas about certain kinds of people and psychological truths that spread "epidemics" of change and trends that can be applied to many complex situations. It can give you insight that you never had before on baffling or "roadblocked" issues.

This book asserts that the best way to understand popularity and social behavior, such as the rise in popularity of a book, teen behaviors, or word of mouth phenomena, is to model them as epidemics. The author suggests that ideas, behaviors, and the popularity of products spread like viruses, and that changes often occur quickly and unexpectedly. Small changes often result in larger changes and spread until a critical mass or "tipping point" is reached, thereby causing a larger more dramatic effect than might have been predicted.

Why is it that some people seem to have more power to influence mass thinking than others? The author says that word-of-mouth epidemics are stimulated by people with certain personality types: 1. sociable people who bring others together are called Connectors, 2. people who are adept at disseminating knowledge are called Mavens, and 3. people able to persuade are called Salesmen. Some people have more than one quality. This book brings to mind for me how frightening it is that we as humans are so easily manipulated by social dynamics and crowd mentality. The book will make you think about social dynamics, fads, and group behavior, and give you insight as to how these can be manipulated. Author of THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong Live Your Dreams

This book is absolutely great; you won't be able to put it down. Gives very interesting insights into social phenomenons. I highly recommend this book!

Nutshell review - This is a great book. Lots of interesting insights and discussions about how social phenomenon can transition from one state to another, more extra-ordinary state.

This book is about the point at which anything, being a product, idea, network, or other new or old innovation - can suddenly become vastly bigger, more important, or have more impact.

It is like when the "straw that broke the camels back." One small thing, added to a system, impacts that system in a macro-way.

Examples include how VCRs, Fax-machines, cell phones, email, the internet, suddenly become ubiquitous.

This book had a very big impact on network theory or more specifically how network effects generate wealth and value for a network (for example, the more people who have faxes, the more valuable it becomes to have a fax), thinking about the internet and e-commerce, and social networks, etc.

It shaped a lot of the literature and thus was a very important book. The author is a brilliant writer and thinker. The book is excellent.
I recommend it for business students, people interested in social network analysis or theory, network effects, or economics. Or the general intellectual reader.