Tipping Point is a great read
October 3, 2005So I was home sick on Friday, and I had two choices–either watch the Knight Rider marathon on Sci-Fi or finish The Tipping Point. Much as I admire David Hasselhoff, I decided I’d better finish The Tipping Point.
Now I know the book has been out a while but it only recently came out in the trade paperback edition, which meant I could afford to pick up a copy. It’s definitely a worthwhile read, though I don’t know how applicable all the lessons in it really are.
The basic premise is that there’s these inflection points, the so-called “tipping point”, at which something becomes ubiquitous or contagious. Some small change pushes a trend, for example, from the small group that starts it into the population at large.
The author’s big assetion is that by understanding these tipping points you can potentially cause large social changes. For example, when New York City started being agressive about painting over graffiti the crime rates dropped dramatically. It affected the environment of the subway riders and that influenced behavior of people who might otherwise have performed criminal activity.
THe part that’s somewhat controversial perhaps is this notion that environment can control behavior so totally, over-riding what we think of as our instinctual behavior. Like the experiment where monks told that they were late for an important meeting failed to stop and assist and obviously ill man whereas another group of monks who were told they had plenty of time did stop to help.
It’s kinda scary to think but makes perfect sense. Really liked the book and I thought he argued his point very well. Definitely recommended.
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