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  • The Tipping Point

  • How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
  • Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
  • Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (922 ratings)

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The Tipping Point cover art

The Tipping Point

Written by: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
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Publisher's Summary

From the bestselling author of The Bomber Mafia: discover Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough debut and explore the science behind viral trends in business, marketing, and human behavior.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

“A wonderful page-turner about a fascinating idea that should affect the way every thinking person looks at the world.” —Michael Lewis

©2007 Malcolm Gladwell (P)2007 Hachette Audio

What the critics say

"History takes on a whole new perspective as he describes events of early America that specifically follow his theories of 'selling the public on an idea' and 'social epidemics.' Feedback from market mavericks further substantiates Gladwell's viewpoints." (AudioFile)

"Gladwell, a New Yorker staff writer, offers an incisive and piquant theory of social dynamics that is bound to provoke a paradigm shift in our understanding of mass behavioral change." (Booklist)

"Hip and hopeful, The Tipping Point is like the idea it describes: concise, elegant, but packed with social power. A book for anyone who cares about how society works and how we can make it better." (George Stephanopoulos)

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What listeners say about The Tipping Point

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A book by a guy who follows his own advice

This book has a lot of incredible and applicable insights for anyone looking to market a product or bring an idea to life.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hugely overrated

First of all, as I am listening to this book in 2020, it is seriously outdated. It cites studies from the 60's and describes events from the 80's. The descriptions of the various studies are tiresome and excessively long. At times, they feel like no more than space filler. The central thesis of the book is not always convincingly exemplified by the stories given and often feels like a bit of a stretch. The first chapter is probably the most meaningful and the rest is mostly a waste of time.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • A
  • 2020-02-09

decent but aged

This is a good book, but not great. I think part of that is its age showing a bit. Anyone who is familiar with Gladwell will like the content and his way of examining problems. But as to the age of it, I just finished Talking to Strangers before this and they are worlds apart. In that book he has great original audio clips to show material. In Tipping Point there is one part where Gladwell actually reads out for several minutes a list of names from the phonebook, which for the listener is painful. A good book for those hardcore Gladwell fans, but for the casual listener I would look at his other material.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

This is the third book I read by Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, Outliers).

One word describes the man .. BRILLIANT!

In this book he describes how fashion, technology, copy cat behavior and epedemics spread - all in the same fashion.

He talks about the influential few who affect the rest of us, about the power of context and about stickiness (yes stickiness).

He talks about how graffiti in a train or a broken window can have huge ramifications in the not so distant future and about how influencers and word of mouth will have an increasingly more powerful role as we move further and further into the information age.

An enjoyable, engaging and thought provoking book. Highly recommend.

His newest book (Talking to Strangers) is already in my library and I plan to read it soon.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Fantastic story. Wonderfully told, narrated and constructed.
The only thing I would say is sometimes the author elaborated a bit excessively on his points, but the result is certainly a sticky message 😉
hahaha
Overall 100% recommendation to any curious, intellectual or sensible person. 🙌🏼

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • G.C
  • 2018-01-31

Mesmerising

Can listen to malcolm Gladwell for hours on end. Thought provoking, it really makes you look differently at everyday situations. Brilliant book, brilliant read

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1 person found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • RMC
  • 2023-12-03

So boring and drawn out

I read and listen to a lot of business books, but this one is dreadfully boring. 90 minute chapters are too long. One chapter goes into excruciating details on sesame street for a solid 90 minutes. I could not, for the life of me, figure out where the author was going with it and how he was going to tie it all together. the conclusion of the chapter was "See, sometimes you need to try new approaches to find your tipping point." HOLY! You just spoke about sesame street for 90minutes to make the conclusion that you need to try different approaches to find a tipping point? Wow. I just listened to another 90minute chapter of the author talking in more excruciating detail about 1980s New York petty crime scene, the conclusion was "It's all about context".

All business books use good examples to demonstrate a point, but this book goes into so much detail about their examples, that the book is less about the topic and more about the stories it tells. I now know about sesame street and 1980s NY petty crime. Cool. That won't help me in business.

This book is highly overrated and was an utter flop for me.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another vital book by Gladwell

I went into this book expecting it to only be applicable to a new product, but came out with ideas that also benefit my main business.

If you’re entrepreneurial minded, buy it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Insightful

Even though it is not as robust as some of his other works such as outliers and talking to strangers, it is still quite insightful. I believe this relatively less robustness is a good thing: it demonstrates the book’s thesis that subtle differences can be game-Changing. I Recommend

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not my favourite by gladwell, but as usual a good listen

I love Malcom gladwells work. This was not my favourite but despite that it was still very good.

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