The Tipping Point

By: Malcolm Gladwell

Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Featuring a new afterword.

Why did crime in New York drop in the mid-90s? Why is teenage smoking out of control? Why are television shows like Sesame Street good at teaching kids how to read?

In The Tipping Point, New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell looks at why major changes in society happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a few fare-beaters and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime wave, or a satisfied customer fill the empty tables of a new restaurant. These are social epidemics, and the moment when they take off, when they reach their critical mass, is the Tipping Point.

Gladwell uncovers the personality types who are natural pollinators of new ideas and trends. He analyzes fashion trends, smoking, children's television, direct mail and the early days of the American Revolution for clues about making ideas infectious.

The Tipping Point is an intellectual adventure story with an infectious enthusiasm for the power and joy of new ideas. Most of all, it is a road map to change, with a profoundly hopeful message: that one imaginative person applying a well-placed lever can move the world.

©2007 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"Gladwell, a New Yorker staff writer, offers an incisive and piquant theory of social dynamics that is bound to provoke a paradigm shift in our understanding of mass behavioral change." (Booklist)

"Hip and hopeful, The Tipping Point is like the idea it describes: concise, elegant, but packed with social power. A book for anyone who cares about how society works and how we can make it better." (George Stephanopoulos)

Sociology for the masses.

Another hit by Mr. Gladwell. He take something as dry as sociology and presents the theories in vignettes that are so interesting, yet are factual demonstrating the points he is walking the reader through. I wish more teachers were as stimulating as him. One other point, this book is read by the author which I really appriciate. This gives you more the intent and tone of the original author.

34 people found this helpful

Great Book, especially for listening

I enjoyed this book so much, I had to listen to it a 2nd time and then some. I especially like the fact that the author reads his own book. I suspect it adds more emphasis in the right areas... Same is true of his other book "Blink" too!

19 people found this helpful

Fantastic!

Malcolm Gladwell's book are very alike- full of stories behind a theory. This one is about the tipping point, something that can turn the luck of something/ someone around, and he tries to explain how we could achieve it.
Very good book. In my opinion, is 5 stars, the level of Outliers, and better than Blink.
Worth the read!

17 people found this helpful

Exceptional!

This is one of the greatest books I ever listened! We are programmed to think in a linear growth model and in a cause-effect model. This book shows that we need to abandon these easy models. Great book-you should not miss it!

35 people found this helpful

Marketing has a lot to learn from this book

Valuable insight into why somethings take off and others possibly flop. Not sure if "The Tipping Point" is the answer or one of the contributors to why things happen. My experience is that everything is connected to each other in various degrees, but this book sure puts a good case for the authors theories. A little confusing in parts, but the authors voice is easy to listen to. A valuable book for marketing type people. Worth the listen to.

35 people found this helpful

Excellent

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Some of the examples actually gave me goose bumps and still do when I think of them. I was able to also implement some of the ideas in my business and I have made some great decisions based on Gladwell's suggestions. Most recommended.

23 people found this helpful

Makes sense to me.

It really makes you think, but it doesn't hurt your head. Well written, easy to understand, interesting, engaging... and the information is actually useful. I loved it.
Okay, so M. Gladwell says some things that wouldn't make him popular everywhere. Doesn't that make us wonder about his critics' motives? He cites his research, but doesn't bore with citations... he's trying to be interesting enough to be read. Generally, his opinions are clearly delineated from the facts used to create them, so I feel he treats his subjects fairly while trying to advance ideas and concepts. I don't agree with everything the book says, but it does make me think and I believe we could all learn something if we consider its end message.

44 people found this helpful

Exciting narrative with great vingettes

The author is an incredibly good story teller. He tells us many great stories from the ride of Paul Revere, the resurgent popularity of Hush Puppies, Sesame Street and to the reduction of violence in New York City. He links them all together with the overriding theme of fundamental change (the tipping point) within society. Each of the vignettes are exciting and will keep you on the edge of your seat and support his main narrative. In addition, he provides a survey of the then current state of the art of the relevant science.

The book was originally published in 2002 and his concept of 'connectors' is only enhanced by what has transpired with Facebook and the further development of the internet. The book is still just as relevant today.

After listening, you will quote some of his stories to your friends and will embrace them within yourself as your own version of reality. Any book which makes you see the world in a different way is a good book and this is a good book.

Usually, I don't like it when an author reads his own book. This one is an exception. I wish that all authors who read their own book would first listen to this book and emulate his style since he does such a good job in the reading.

5 people found this helpful

The Tipping Point

The author explains why some things catch on and others don't. I think if you liked the book Freakonomics you will like this. It has the same eclectic almost jumping around feel, but at the same time putting out very interesting information.

17 people found this helpful

My tipping point…for audio

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point was the first book I ever listened to, well at least completely. I had a hard time grasping all the characters and unfolding plot lines in fiction at first – and had listened to the beginnings of some novels as many as seven times – before I fell in love with being read to in The Tipping Point.

I’m not sure if it was Gladwell’s fascinating concepts, or the feeling as if he was talking right with me, but I remember listening the whole way through, alone at home, one quiet autumn night.

…And the rest is history. I’ve listened to many more books since then – both fiction and nonfiction – but this one will always remain a favorite of mine.

48 people found this helpful

Surprising - but maybe not!

Gladwell the maverick gives us his take on the spread of ideas, urban myths, and "sticky" advertising.
I found it hard to get out of the car when this was playing, and wanting to go for a drive just so that i could indulge myself a little more with this exquisite book.

The tipping point is great

Try his videos on 'TED' if you want a free intro to him. It doesnt get to marketing really, until the end. To me thats fine as I prefer the idea of viral ideas than how to make people buy stuff.