The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I'm very sad at this moment because I was reading this book in the bath (1. yes, I'm strange and 2. yes, I'm aware that reading in the bath is a bad idea) and now it's got a little water damage.

Anywho, but for the damage to the book, I really enjoyed The Tipping Point. It's about a million different things, yet one thing: the moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior catches on and spreads like wildfire.

When I first heard about The Tipping Point, somehow I was operating under the misapprehension that the whole book was about crime in New York City and how it has lessened over the past decade. I though "yeah, that sounds like watching paint dry". Luckily, I was wrong! There's seriously something in here for everyone. As Gladwell poses new and troubling questions and discusses how and why things catch on he offers up a multitude of examples and goes into detail about the most random things: Hush Puppies shoes, syphilis, the Columbia Record Club, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game, teenage smoking, Blues Clues, Sesame Street, and yes, even the decline of crime in New York City (which, at times, was one of the funniest chapters!), and many more.

What I love is that it's written for everyone. He makes the information accessible and writes it so that even a twelve year old can read it and comprehend what's going on. He could have written an entire book filled with boring statistics and charts and graphs (and people would have probably loved it), but instead he offers up stories about how Sesame Street was created, which movie star can be connected to other stars in the fewest steps (and it's not Kevin Bacon!), and how The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood became such a huge bestseller.

One of my favorite parts is when he discusses e-mail and how when it was a new phenomenon he couldn't wait to get home and check it and would rush to reply. But now that he's had it for so long the newness has worn off and he takes his time replying. As someone who has emailed the man twice now, I found myself going "you don't say!".

This is my second Gladwell book and I can't impress upon you enough how much his books have affected me and what I've learned from them or even how much I've laughed while reading them.

http://thechickmanifesto.blogspot.com/2009/03/tipping-point-by-malcolm-gladwell.html