The Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell

Rating: 7.7/10.0

Until now, I haven’t really been able to articulate the kinds of non-fiction books that I enjoy. Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point provides a good recipe though:

• Begin with an overarching question that is important and relevant, but not overly ambitious and definitely within the author’s means to properly answer
• Get readers caught up on the academic literature by highlighting key research studies
• Examine real-world events in a case study form rather than analysing the results of controlled experiments
• Conclusions are easy to understand, reveal something about how the world works, and are supported by anecdotes and analogies for better information retention

Gladwell asks the question of how social epidemics are created. He begins with the Baltimore syphilis epidemic of the 1990s and provides 3 explanations for the outbreak.

• From the CDC: The introduction of crack cocaine drove more people to infected “hotspots”
• From the University of Baltimore: Reduced clinical funding meant existing syphilis patients went longer before being treated, causing infections to grow faster than recoveries
• From an epidemiologist: The demolition of several low-income housing projects dispersed its residents across the city and created new sexual networks

Each of these explanations features one type of tipping point: The environment, the product (i.e. disease) itself, and the individuals. Throughout the rest of the book, Gladwell uses the aforementioned recipe to investigate each of these tipping points. In doing so, he brings together seemingly unrelated ideas. The unconventional methods used to fight crime on the New York Subway highlight how marginal changes to the environment affects human behaviour. The design of children’s shows like Blue’s Clues and Sesame Street show how products can be engineered to be sticky. And Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride exemplifies the characteristics of remarkably “infectious” people.

Needless to say, this book is right up my alley and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s just the lack of any “wow” factor that prevents it from getting anything higher than an 8/10 rating.

IRL Update (10/26/2024): My third co-op term is already halfway over. I told myself over the summer that this would be a “grind my stats” term. And in that light it’s going well. Not exactly having fun, but sacrifices must be made 😤