The Tipping Point

You never know where you'll find interesting things. I was reading Bill Simmons column that was supposed to be about the Red Sox (but was really about him) when Simmons used a term I was not familiar with

The Gladwell-like tipping point happened on Labor Day, during a rainout makeup game against Chicago -- originally a much-needed off day -- when the White Sox passed through town for, like, six hours and found more than enough time to dominate Boston at Fenway. That was the "uh-oh" moment.

(Emphasis added).

I did not know what this referred to so I Googled "Gladwell tipping point" and I found this book:



I read Gladwell's site and was interested:

It's a book about change. In particular, it's a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. For example, why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990's? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read? I think the answer to all those questions is the same. It's that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.

It sounds interesting to read on several levels. Has anyone out there read this book? I'd be curious to know your opinion of the book before I buy it from Amazon.