December 15, 2009

Review: The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is a commercially accessible examination of how trends start and flourish, which is much like pandemics. Gladwell has a talent for explaining large concepts in succinct, clear writing, expounded upon by numerous examples and weaved together through engaging tales. I found Tipping Point more cerebral than Blink, but still a bit too 'accessible' for the educated reader. Also, much of the analysis of the book appeared to be retro-justifications of particular trends, generalizing most of the contributing factors into Gladwell's construction, muting the others, and ignoring trends that may have run completely counter. I would have liked to see a prediction made based on the theories presented to test them and provide falsifiability, but that would have been above and beyond the call of duty.

Read it.
Skim it.
Toss it.

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