The Tipping Point
Malcom Gladwell

A friend recommended this book to me. It was a national bestseller, and the first few pages are full of positive reviews. I liked and still like the main point -- little things can make a big difference -- but the author could have made that point much more quickly. I started skimming toward the end.

Gladwell takes a look at a wide range of behaviors and trends such as crime, disease, advertising, and clothing styles and points out how small changes can dramatically affect their prevalence. Cleaning up the subway can reduce crime, adding a gold box to an ad and linking it to a TV commercial can increase sales, and changing the format of a TV show can hold a child's attention longer (for whatever that's worth).

This book featured interesting anecdotes which made for unusual dinner table conversation. It included some less desirable tidbits, too, which were not necessary. Overall, I was disappointed.

(Little, Brown and Company, 2000)