The Tipping Point

I just finished reading the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Although I was not completely gripped by it, I still thought it was intriguing. I think the two reasons that I was able to put the book down regularly while reading it was because 1) it is nonfiction and I don’t get as engaged without a story and 2) I have so much required reading for school that I cannot let myself get lost in a book for 3 days straight! That being said it is well worth reading.

“Gladwell looks at why major changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas, behaviors, messages, and products, he argues, often spread like outbreaks of infectious epidemic of the flu, so too can a few fare-beaters and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime way, 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.” (inside cover of book)

Lots of different social epidemics and many studies are discussed in this book. One section talks about personality traits and how people have many different sides to their personalities. A volunteer study was done where half the volunteers were assigned as prison guards and the other half into prisoners. Within the first 12 hours the guards became mean and punitive and the prisoners felt dehumanized. “The reason that most of us seem to have a consistent character is that most of us are really good at controlling our environment.” (163).

I don’t know if I agreed with all the premises that the book made, but they were well argued and definitely worth pondering. I would say this book is a must read!