Review of the Book Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Whilst most of us have an understanding of what a fad is, how many of us have looked at one through an epidemiological lense? Malcolm Gladwell takes an everyday social phenomena and turns them on their head in way that is light yet vivid, and frightening but funny. I invite any of you with a natural curiosity of social science to delve into this world, because as Gladwell illustrates, once you you’ve passed the “tipping point”, you won’t want to go back.

Straight out the gate and you’re greeted with medical terminology; from “contagious” to “epidemic”, “infectious” to “spreading”, you’re probably starting to feel your nose block as you turn the first page. However, if you allow yourself to see beneath the jargon you’ll find a perfectly constructed logic that illustrates Gladwell’s approach… Much like scientists and their “laws” Gladwell lists set of his “principles”; these are his essential ingredients, that turn something from an idea into a unstoppable craze that can sweep through society. One of his graphic examples is centered around “Hush Puppies”, the iconic american brand that came close to the end during the mid 90’s, but, according to Gladwell, was revived by an explosive fad. Gladwell goes onto to explain the role of influence, stickiness and context (his principles) in allowing the brand to not only survive but flourish beyond imaginability – its “tipping point”. Gladwell applies his framework to a plethora of examples which include smoking, television and even the American Revolution – talk about a balanced sample. With examples exhausted, he then highlights the importance of his analogies, stating that we as humans have a tough time understanding epidemics. “How can the end result seem so out of proportion?” and having then been informed that “if you take a piece of paper and fold it exponentially 50 times it would reach the sun”, I can’t but mutter “no way…” and nod in contempt.

But with Gladwell, it’s more than just wooing and wowing, it’s his genuine belief in his research. “Broken Window Theory” claims that criminals are influenced by their environment and it is mentioned heavily throughout the book and sources claim Gladwell popularised the theory so much in the book that the NYPD acted on it and crime rates actually dropped! Crazy. What’s more, Tipping Point was released long before social media and fact we’re now all too familiar with the term “viral” certainly supports a case to call Gladwell a trailblazer.

A colorful tale of “how the little things, can make the biggest difference”; Tipping Point scores 4 of 5 on the ReddyScale. Sadly it’s 18 year old status removes some of its modern applicability. People don’t just want to read about social contagiousness anymore, they want to know how to start it.