The Tipping Point

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

Discover Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough debut and explore the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

Don't miss any of Malcolm Gladwell's books, articles, and interviews.©2000 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2005 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

Why is it that fashion trends change the way we dress? Why do various TV shows, movies, and books become so popular? Malcolm Gladwell provides a diagram of our society, along with an analysis of the strategies people apply to influence and mold its direction. Gladwell describes the personality types that create trends and those that influence others by "spreading the word." History takes on a whole new perspective as he describes events of early America that specifically follow his theories of "selling the public on an idea" and "social epidemics." Feedback from market mavericks further substantiates Gladwell's viewpoints. B.J.P. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEPT 01]

Fresh and Original

I've already had a half a dozen friends thank me for suggesting this read/listen.

The Power of Numbers!

Wow... What a great read. Malcom Gladwell really captures the spirit of human connections and the human need to feel part of something. A definate must read for anyone interested in looking at what moves people and how a small event can result in large response.

The Tipping Point

Filled with interesting data, read with enthusiasm. A very good read (listen).

Phenomenal Book!!!

This book is truly inspiration in all angles! A must read for everyone who has a desire to change the world into a better place

Do not get (truncated version)

Great book but this copy is a cut up mess of the original. Get the 8 hr version.

An interesting listen

I really enjoyed this audio book. I've heard Malcolm Gladwell speak before and had been interested to "read" The Tipping Point for a while. It's a mixture of anectdotes, psychology, economics, marketing, epidemiology and more.

The principle focus of The Tipping Point is how small changes, can bring about large effects. With examples such as marketing of Hush Puppies shoes, the broken windows theory, Airwalk shoes, Paul Reveres midnight ride, word of mouth, mass hysteria and more.

The only disappointing thing about this audio book is that it is abridged. If you like short 3 hour "quick listen"'s, you may not mind, but it felt to me, like a reasonable amount of material was cut out. This was even more apparent at the end during the afterword, when it references several things that did not appear in this audio book.

But overall, it was enjoyable, fairly "light reading", and kept my interest throughout.

Awesome!!!

This is an incredible book and narrated by the author whom has a beautiful voice and adds feeling to the words. I was enthrawled.

Clever premise, zero insight

Compared to similar, better researched and more tightly written and argued books like "Freakanomics" or "The Wisdom of Crowds," this book comes off as something that a self-satisfied Ivy League student might write as his thesis paper. There are a lot of interesting ideas and facts, but other than some highly contrived arguments Gladwell half-heartedly tries to work in, there simply isn't much tying them to the central thesis.

In short, the book is just a bunch of disjointed anecdotal examples of "tipping points" which Gladwell tries to buttress with a lot of interesting and tangential information, presumably hoping the reader be entertained enough to fail to notice that he's not actually proving his point in any substantial way. Apparently, he's been very successful at this, but it doesn't change the fact that the "Tipping Point" has plenty to SHOW, but pretty much nothing to SAY.

And the book simply ignores or dismisses in a sentence or two the broad social trends that were going on during specific "epidemics" that were probably as responsible for them as the narrow and inaccurate reasons Gladwell gives. For example, does anyone actually think that if extreme sports hadn't exploded in the 1990's Airwalk would have succeeded through clever advertising? Of course not. Yet Gladwell would have one believe that clever advertising taking advantage of "social innovators" and "mavens" were singlehandedly responsible for Airwalk's success. And "Freakonomics'" explanation for why crime in New York dropped is a LOT more compelling (and statistically disproves) Gladwell's argument that the NYC authorities successfully engineered an "anti-crime epidemic."

On the whole, this is the second glib, insubstantial and overrated book by Gladwell I've listened to, which seems like plenty.

Provoking

The idea of a social tipping point is definitely intriguing and Gladwell gives plenty of anecdotal examples. In a nutshell, social phenomena happen because of a complex inter-relationship between social innovators, mavens, and first adopters. It's basically the theory behind viral marketting, and "cool hunting", though the $1M question "What makes something (ex iPods) cool and others not?" remains unanswered beyond the elusive "because the mavens showed it to their friends". Beyond that, why do some crazes stay in a niched and loyal subculture (linux adoption) whlie others become mainstream? And taking into attempts like ilovebees and subservientchicken, I have to wonder if viral marketing even works, or if it's just another unmeasureable gimmick/fad in marketing and advertising.

It's certainly an interesting theory, full of possibilities, but I suggest reading "Linked" by Alberto-Laszlo Barabasi for what I believe to be a broader look at not only social phenomenae but also the properties of highly connected networks as general model, and how networks apply to other phenomena like computer virii, AIDS epidemiology, power outtages, and computer security. Although I felt that Gladwell did a suitable job covering the subject, having just finished "Linked", the "The Tipping Point" felt like a weaker, more limited, reiteration of network theory.

Insightful, Important Information

Gladwell gives us the microscope on why people trend in one direction or another. I received the hardcopy from a friend who is the director of a major CA hospital. I have since shared it with CEO's and COO's and the feedback I've received is that it is perhaps the most important book anyone in business could read.