Customer Rating: Summary: History May be repeating itself Comment: From today's NY Post
If the Police Department relaxes its enforcement of petty "quality of life" infractions, it could be a turning point back to the days when murders, muggings and mayhem plagued the city, says a law enforcement expert who played a key role in developing the policy. "You might be pointing to a tipping point," said George Kelling, who helped formulate the "broken windows"; approach to policing that was the model for Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's successful zero-tolerance policy. [New York Post] Customer Rating: Summary: So glad I discovered this Comment: Seller: good price; book was in excellent condition and arrived quickly.
Book: On "The Rachel Maddow Show," the author explained his sociological/philosophical concepts clearly and most interestingly, so I bought this book---and it's written just as clearly and interestingly. The stories, as well as his explanations of events, are fascinating. Now I want to read his other works. Customer Rating: Summary: It is a tipping point, unless it is not Comment: Malcolm Gladwell writes well. But there is not much substance. Sometimes, there is a point in time something changes dramatically. Sometimes, it doesn't come. These first ones are by definition a Tipping Point. Is there anything really interesting here? Not really. How can a tautology be worth a full book? Pages after pages of blah blah blah.... Customer Rating: Summary: Enough already....... Comment: Obviously I am in the minority here - but I was sorely disappointed in what I read of this book.
As a Sociology Major I was excited and all aquiver to read this facinating book. But after the Hush Puppy example in the first few pages of the book I seriously found myself wondering how many examples of the exact same thing I was going to have to read through.
I really do admire the authors boundless enthusiasm for this subject matter - well - at least I did for about the first 50 pages. Customer Rating: Summary: fantastic read Comment: What an interesting read! I really like it when I come across a book that I can't put down. This is one of those really interesting factual reads that gives societal feedback and maybe something that in turn could help the reader. Highly recommendable!
"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan
