As Part of my Marketing Management class I was assigned a book review of The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell. This was the book I've probably enjoyed the most as an assignment through this class so far. Gladwell had a way of writing that kept you entertained as well as informed you.
The main idea in his book is that of the tipping point. This is the idea that once something reaches a certain tipping point it rapidly expands. He compares it to an epidemic in that the increase becomes exponential and not linear. Gladwell went on to explain that there are a few facilitators for this tipping point to occur. The three facilitators he described were the law of few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context. The law of few is what Gladwell uses to describe the people needed for the tipping point to occur. There are three kinds of people Gladwell mentions, including Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. The connectors are people that have a large amount of contacts. They know everyone therefore they connect many. Mavens are people who are very educated about the market. They know all aspects involved in a market and they are the person you go to with a question about a product. The salesmen are exactly what they sound like. They are someone that sells you on the idea of something. The next factor needed in making a tipping point occur is the stickiness factor. This is how long something can have an effect on you. For instance a cold that only made you sick for a day wouldn't be much of an epidemic, as Gladwell put it. The context of the situation was the last thing affecting if something would hit the tipping point. Malcolm gave a few crime related examples to show how people acted in different contexts.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the book was Gladwell's liberal use of cases and examples. I believe showing situations like this can really give some credibility to what you're saying. His examples were entertaining as well. They ranged from the explosive success of Sesame Street to the spread of STDs in some communities. He gave examples of each type of person from the law of few too.
The format of the book was good as well. Gladwell explained his ideas and gave some examples in the first half of the book and used the last half to give even more examples. He explained everything so that it was quite easy to comprehend. There was some repetition but, I felt that it served the purpose of helping your retention of what he was going over. Again, I think that the frequent use of examples was another important part to making this book as good as it was.
So, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was an enjoyable and educational book. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to know a little more about business really. He used many examples that gave credibility to his ideas and could explain them fluently. He made me think in new ways and made me realize that sometimes a little push can make a big difference.
I have also attached the full version of my review if you would like to look at it. Thanks!
The main idea in his book is that of the tipping point. This is the idea that once something reaches a certain tipping point it rapidly expands. He compares it to an epidemic in that the increase becomes exponential and not linear. Gladwell went on to explain that there are a few facilitators for this tipping point to occur. The three facilitators he described were the law of few, the stickiness factor, and the power of context. The law of few is what Gladwell uses to describe the people needed for the tipping point to occur. There are three kinds of people Gladwell mentions, including Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. The connectors are people that have a large amount of contacts. They know everyone therefore they connect many. Mavens are people who are very educated about the market. They know all aspects involved in a market and they are the person you go to with a question about a product. The salesmen are exactly what they sound like. They are someone that sells you on the idea of something. The next factor needed in making a tipping point occur is the stickiness factor. This is how long something can have an effect on you. For instance a cold that only made you sick for a day wouldn't be much of an epidemic, as Gladwell put it. The context of the situation was the last thing affecting if something would hit the tipping point. Malcolm gave a few crime related examples to show how people acted in different contexts.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the book was Gladwell's liberal use of cases and examples. I believe showing situations like this can really give some credibility to what you're saying. His examples were entertaining as well. They ranged from the explosive success of Sesame Street to the spread of STDs in some communities. He gave examples of each type of person from the law of few too.
The format of the book was good as well. Gladwell explained his ideas and gave some examples in the first half of the book and used the last half to give even more examples. He explained everything so that it was quite easy to comprehend. There was some repetition but, I felt that it served the purpose of helping your retention of what he was going over. Again, I think that the frequent use of examples was another important part to making this book as good as it was.
So, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was an enjoyable and educational book. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to know a little more about business really. He used many examples that gave credibility to his ideas and could explain them fluently. He made me think in new ways and made me realize that sometimes a little push can make a big difference.
I have also attached the full version of my review if you would like to look at it. Thanks!
the_tipping_point_review.docx |