The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, 280 pagesNonfiction Five; Dewey Decimal Challenge: 300s
How do ideas take off? Did you know another man left the same night as Paul Revere to warn of the British, but why did his message not take? How did Hush Puppies become trendy in the 1990s?
Gladwell takes his pop sociology and plain language to look at epidemics and the factors that cause/help/start/continue them. He brings in lots of academic studies to support his thesis and parses them down into the relevant information. We meet the type of people that spread trends, and that know a lot of people. We see how shows like Sesame Street and Blue's Clues had a 'sticky' message.
I read a succinct review at library thing that sums it up pretty well: Some interesting ideas, and a good enough read.
Yep, that about sums it up. I'll have to look for his other book, Outliers, to complete the 'trilogy' along with Blink.
I read this recently, too and had similar impressions. An easy read but also thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind giving this a read. I keep saying that, but then never do!
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how readable this was. The book also reinforced what I already knew about myself, that I am definitely not the type of person who spreads trends!
ReplyDeleteI loved Outliers and plan on reading the others.
ReplyDeleteI checked this one up online just recently when I saw it was a national bestseller. I must say, you make it sound more interesting than most things I found.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of these books, but feel like I should. I like ideas and where they can take us, so maybe this book would be a good choice to start with.
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