Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point
When I was in high school, my brother gave me some good advice on writing papers: make a statement, an argument, and spend the rest of the paper proving it. When it comes to writing commercially, especially, reading Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, The Tipping Point, leads me to a second piece of advice: make sure everything you say is always interesting.
Gladwell does a reasonably good job at following my brother’s advice. The book is about how all sorts of things can change very suddenly, sometimes for seemingly very minor reasons. Ideas, diseases, social trends are spread by three types of communicators: connectors, mavens, and salesmen (occasionally, some people can be all three).
And Gladwell does a great job at following the second piece of advice, always grabbing your interest with diverse examples that make fascinating little stories in their own right--how Paul Revere rallied the Massachusetts colonists on his ride, how Hush Puppies became cool, how syphilis in Baltimore was spread by a handful of promiscuous men, how serious crime in New York City declined in the 1990s....
Actually, as listened to Gladwell read his book (he does a decent job), I had to wonder whether most people would really be that interested in his account of how Sesame Street and Blues Clues became hit children’s TV shows. I mean, I found it very useful information--part of my job is entertaining and educating kids. But Gladwell does spend a lot of time on it. He might lose some people there.
But there again, his knack of focusing on just the most intriguing facts would probably pull them along. Great read!
This BBC interview is a good intro to Gladwell. Couldn't seem to find Part Two, unfortunately:
Gladwell does a reasonably good job at following my brother’s advice. The book is about how all sorts of things can change very suddenly, sometimes for seemingly very minor reasons. Ideas, diseases, social trends are spread by three types of communicators: connectors, mavens, and salesmen (occasionally, some people can be all three).
And Gladwell does a great job at following the second piece of advice, always grabbing your interest with diverse examples that make fascinating little stories in their own right--how Paul Revere rallied the Massachusetts colonists on his ride, how Hush Puppies became cool, how syphilis in Baltimore was spread by a handful of promiscuous men, how serious crime in New York City declined in the 1990s....
Actually, as listened to Gladwell read his book (he does a decent job), I had to wonder whether most people would really be that interested in his account of how Sesame Street and Blues Clues became hit children’s TV shows. I mean, I found it very useful information--part of my job is entertaining and educating kids. But Gladwell does spend a lot of time on it. He might lose some people there.
But there again, his knack of focusing on just the most intriguing facts would probably pull them along. Great read!
This BBC interview is a good intro to Gladwell. Couldn't seem to find Part Two, unfortunately:
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