The Tipping Point
"New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell looks at why major changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas, behavior, messages, and products, he argues, often spread like outbreaks of infectious disease. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a few fare-beaters and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime wave, or a satisfied customer fill the empty tables of a new restaurant. These are social epidemics, and the moment when they take off, when they reach their critical mass, is the Tipping Point.". "Gladwell introduces us to the particular personality types who are natural pollinators of new ideas and trends, the people who create the phenomenon of word of mouth. He analyzes fashion trends, smoking, children's television, direct mail, and the early days of the American Revolution for clues about making ideas infectious, and visits a religious commune, a successful high-tech company, and one of the world's greatest salesmen to show how to start and sustain social epidemics."--BOOK JACKET.
Where The Tipping Point keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Also by Malcolm Gladwell
What you might want to know about The Tipping Point
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell argues ideas, products, and behaviors spread like contagious diseases, with a tipping point at which a small change becomes an epidemic. He runs the model through Hush Puppies, Paul Revere's ride, falling 1990s New York crime, and Sesame Street's preschool numbers.
The Tipping Point identifies three factors (the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context) that cause ideas, products, and behaviors to suddenly spread. Malcolm Gladwell's debut book established his career as a popular social-science writer.
Some specific case studies in The Tipping Point (2000) have been challenged by replication studies, particularly the broken-windows theory. The broader framework remains influential. Gladwell wrote a sequel, Revenge of the Tipping Point (2024), addressing the original's reception.
The Tipping Point was written by Malcolm Gladwell, published in 2000 by Little, Brown Book Group Limited.
The Tipping Point is 288 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Tipping Point takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
The Tipping Point is a standalone novel by Malcolm Gladwell, not part of a series.
The Tipping Point is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
