I recently finished up "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference", by Malcom Gladwell.
It was extremely interesting. It tied together a diverse set of ideas about social diseases, memes, athletic shoes, advertising, childrens programming and the spread of ideas in a really fascinating framework. The basic question the author was trying to answer IMHO was why ideas seem to suddenly become popular. His answers were not trite and they seemed to have some good research behind them.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand some of the whys of human behaviour, especially in groups.
One thing I found missing in the book was myself. He describes certain actors that have outsize roles, connectors, salespeople, and mavens. I don't comfortably fit into any of those roles yet I feel like I can be a meme spreader under certain circumstances. Namely, I often synthesize information from several disciplines with a new application. Then I spread it around to individuals. Sort of like a "typhoid mary" of ideas.
I came away from the read with my head spinning with new ideas. Frankly, I also wondered of the author had cherry picked research that agreed with his hypothesis. His examples really made the book for me. The best contained the image of a seminary student prepping a devotional on the parable of the "Good Samaritan" and stepping over a sick guy on his way across the quad to deliver the devotional.
I give the book four stars out of four possible. No qualms about suggesting it to others.
I would be curious how people with a more rigorous academic bent look at this material, would they think it is overblown or lightweight or what. If so what other similiar books would be suggested as better?
Book Review -- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
I recently finished up "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference", by Malcom Gladwell.
It was extremely interesting. It tied together a diverse set of ideas about social diseases, memes, athletic shoes, advertising, childrens programming and the spread of ideas in a really fascinating framework. The basic question the author was trying to answer IMHO was why ideas seem to suddenly become popular. His answers were not trite and they seemed to have some good research behind them.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand some of the whys of human behaviour, especially in groups.
One thing I found missing in the book was myself. He describes certain actors that have outsize roles, connectors, salespeople, and mavens. I don't comfortably fit into any of those roles yet I feel like I can be a meme spreader under certain circumstances. Namely, I often synthesize information from several disciplines with a new application. Then I spread it around to individuals. Sort of like a "typhoid mary" of ideas.
I came away from the read with my head spinning with new ideas. Frankly, I also wondered of the author had cherry picked research that agreed with his hypothesis. His examples really made the book for me. The best contained the image of a seminary student prepping a devotional on the parable of the "Good Samaritan" and stepping over a sick guy on his way across the quad to deliver the devotional.
I give the book four stars out of four possible. No qualms about suggesting it to others.
I would be curious how people with a more rigorous academic bent look at this material, would they think it is overblown or lightweight or what. If so what other similiar books would be suggested as better?
