Malcolm Gladwell "Revenge of the Tipping Point" (A REVIEW)
(C7) Gladwell delivers another “Masterpiece” in Storytelling in his latest book (which originally was supposed to be a remake of his first book)
BOOK REVIEW:
Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell
Once I learned that Revenge of the Tipping Point was published as part of a 25th anniversary edition of Malcolm Gladwell’s original book The Tipping Point, I had to read it as soon as I could.
While there are some overlapping themes in both books, there was still a ton of new material in the new one. In the original, Gladwell speaks of the upside in the Law of the few, where a new idea caught on from a few enterprising people. In Gladwell’s newest book he speaks of the downside in the Law of the few.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS SECTION (from the book)
“I started with the idea of doing a quick and simple refresh of The Tipping Point, on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary. I thought, oh, this will be easy. But halfway in, I realized I wanted to write an entirely new book. I brought my “creative resources fully into play” only because I misjudged the nature of my task”.
(P.307) Malcolm Gladwell Revenge of the Tipping Point
Gladwell, himself specifically states that in this book, he’s more focused on the dark side of various *tipping points* instead of the more trendy and optimistic ones shared in his original book.
*“Tipping Point” (noun): the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place. Merriam-Webster.com (online-dictionary) *
For example, Gladwell devotes almost a whole chapter to COVID-19 and how the “Law of the (very) few” is actually what spurred the global pandemic.
“Airborne viruses do not operate according to the Law of the Few. They operate according to the Law of the Very, Very, Very Few.”
(P.194) Malcolm Gladwell Revenge of the Tipping Point
Malcolm Gladwell did his homework in uncovering Harvard University’s admissions process, and how they have been able to maintain their own desired “status quo”.
The key question Gladwell asks is
“Why does Harvard have so many sports teams?”
He asks his readers how this could be so, given that Harvard isn’t exactly an athletic powerhouse, the way Alabama football is, or UNC basketball is.
From Harvard Crimson - Wikipedia
“The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country.”
Despite the admissions office claiming that all the athletic teams are a way to promote more school spirit, Gladwell makes a compelling argument as to what the real (hidden) intention is.
Gladwell’s claim is that all these different sports teams provide a great recruitment tool in creating different criteria to bring in the type of students Harvard University wants going to their school.
For example, many of the sports offered at Harvard are only played in affluent communities. Not because “only affluent” people like playing them. But rather there are some sports that are just plain expensive to play, and certain communities either don’t have the exposure to them, and/or they don’t have the resources to devote towards developing young athletes to play them.
These athletic teams being offered (and the need to field these teams) makes it easier for Harvard University to maintain their white majority/plurality student population, despite the ever-shifting demographics and scholastic achievements by individuals world-wide.
The next section of this post is a slight detour from the book review and is more of an over-view/brief synopsis of all of Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling books as well as his critically acclaimed Revisionist History Podcast.
I was first introduced to Malcolm Gladwell in the Spring of 2005 when I was working as a grassroots organizer for the organization, Common Cause in Connecticut.
I was highly encouraged by my supervisor Andy to read Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference. Andy was a big fan of this book, and he wanted me to read it to apply some of Gladwell’s principles to grassroots organizing.
The Tipping Point came out in the year 2000 and analyzed how ideas catch on so quickly. Gladwell broke this down by looking at the influence of people and placing them in three categories.
Connectors - knew a lot of people and connected a lot of people together
Mavens - were the experts on the idea
Salespeople - were the ones that introduced ideas to others.
Common Cause of CT in partnership with the Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG) was spear-heading a public financing of elections bill. Andy found the major tenets of The Tipping Point to be applicable to gaining momentum in passing this landmark legislation in Connecticut.
In the context of Gladwell’s book, I was a salesperson promoting the mavens’ idea of campaign finance reform and seeking out connectors to spread the word.
It was pretty cool how Andy made this book relevant to the work we were doing on this very specific issue-campaign. I clearly found it be very beneficial. It also made me a life-long fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s work.
I read Gladwell’s next book - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. as soon as it came out in the Summer of 2005. It is a book I read at least a few times, one in which I highly recommend to many people. I actually even feature it in a post of mine, on “The 5 books I have gifted the most”.
Quote from 5 books gifted post:
“If anything, Malcolm Gladwell's work gives you an amazing reference point/starting point to really research into so many different fields, whether it is “viral-marketing”, “snap-judgments/instant psychological analysis”, “hidden advantages people have” or “uncovering clever pop-culture references to what otherwise would be obscure topics”, Gladwell is your Author to delve into!” - Josh off the Press (January 25, 2017)
And yes, as true to the title of my posting, I have bought at least a few copies of his book, Blink some to replace my own, others to give to people as gifts.
Malcolm Gladwell features eight best-selling books on his website:
While there are certainly other books he collaborated on and co-wrote, I’ll leave it to Malcolm Gladwell and his site for which books of his to promote. https://www.gladwellbooks.com/landing-page/malcolm-gladwell-books/
Gladwell is also a featured writer for The New Yorker Magazine, still making a few cameos, writing-long form essays for this famous publication.
Three of the books Gladwell wrote, which have been mentioned in the prior section of this post (as listed below) are:
The Tipping Point (2000)
Blink (2005)
Revenge of the Tipping Point (2024)
Below is a brief summary of the five other books Malcolm Gladwell wrote, and the personal impact they had on me.
Outliers - The Story of Success: (2008) is the third book Gladwell wrote, which in a lot of ways feels like Gladwell’s most popular book. It certainly appeared to have the most cultural relevance, as I remember family and friends sharing some of his stories with me as if it was the first time they discovered him.
One of the sections of the book I remember best is about Bill Gates and how he benefited from having parents who were College Professors in the State of Washington. The State of Washington was on the forefront of the computer revolution, and Gates had access to one of the very first modern computer labs in the whole world.
If Gates were born fifteen years earlier or fifteen years later, maybe he’d just be a successful accountant and not the Microsoft Wizard that he is. The book was not without controversy in how one could or should measure success.
I know many people have heard of the 10,000-hour rule popularized by this book (and I suppose largely debunked). There is enough written about it to fill a whole library.
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009) is the fourth book I read of Gladwell’s. This book is a compilation of Gladwell’s very best essays he wrote for the New Yorker Magazine (up until that point). In a lot of ways, this might be Gladwell’s most underrated work, as it is a compilation of various stories, with no readily apparent overarching theme (that comes to mind as of now), but still a brilliant book. For example, Gladwell writes at length as to why mustard has so many different flavors, yet ketchup is pretty much the same everywhere you go. I actually need to re-read this book, soon!
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants (2013) is the fifth book I read of Malcolm Gladwell’s. I actually found this book to be a close cousin to Outliers. Afterall, as one of the stories in the book asserts, that maybe Goliath really shouldn’t have been the favorite in his battle against David. The big Ogre that could hardly move in some ways was over-matched by the little Gadfly who could run circles around him.
The Revisionist History Podcast came out shortly after Gladwell’s David and Goliath book. It’s a wildly popular podcast going on 11 seasons now (in which I fell behind). What I find most fascinating about Gladwell’s podcast is how he views history from a reporter’s perspective, exploring ideas as to why (many, many years ago) McDonald’s changed the ingredients in how they cook their french-fries.
From the time I last read a Gladwell book, up until this year, I mostly caught Gladwell on podcast interviews, and other video segments. I enjoyed listening to Gladwell on *Joe Rogan, and especially Gladwell’s theory of criminals, and how the personality of a criminal in America has so much cultural variance. Similar to how growing up in the North-East is a completely different cultural experience from growing up in the South.
*I have mentioned this in a few of my more recent (political) postings, but it warrants mentioning again; Joe Rogan in my view has lost (almost) all credibility. Something about the pandemic appeared to break his brain. His rightward lurch appeared more and more dramatic with each passing year, until Rogan made the full MAGA “Heel Turn”, (last November).
Gladwell’s seventh book he published, The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War (2021) is one I still have yet to tackle. I initially bought this on audio books as Gladwell highly recommends people listen to it. But for me I realize I’m better served reading it, as that is my preferred way of absorbing books.
Malcolm Gladwell’s sixth book published is Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know (2019). One of the major premises of the book is how when we interact with people, we miss so many social cues when it comes to relating to people.
*While I regret that I still have not yet read this book, I do know a bit about it just from listening to Gladwell’s interviews and going through each topic/chapter of the book to get a general overview.
There is a chapter in the book on modern policing in America. The focus was on the Sarah Bland murder by the Dallas Police. This was huge news at the time! Issues like defunding the police, and the killing of unarmed Black people certainly spilled over into the 2020 Presidential election.
Obviously, a lot of things are currently getting white-washed given how hostile this current Presidential Administration is to POC as well as everyone else who disagrees with them/him.
*For the record: I’m making it a point to read Talking to Strangers before the end of this summer, with a book review on it to follow.
The remainder of this post/Book review on Revenge of the Tipping Point will be behind a paywall. This isn’t because I don’t enjoy sharing my work with you, because I do. But rather - some of you might be inspired to read the book, and don’t want my review to spoil it.
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The rest of this book review is more or less my curated notes from Revenge of the Tipping Point.
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Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering
CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION (P 3-12)
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