You could just tip me over with a feather
The seventh book I read in 2010 was Malcolm Gladwell’s first book, Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. I’ve read (and reported on) both of his other books, Blink and Outliers. Both I thought were excellent, so I guessed it would be worth my while to read the book that got Gladwell’s career in hardcover started.
My only complaint with Tipping Point is that I should have read it first. The others build on and expand upon the ideas in Tipping Point. Outliers especially seems to be a specific application of the concepts set forth in Tipping Point; it’s not just the little things that make a big difference, but the little things that make those big differences in people’s lives.
As a result, I came away interested but not feeling as though any new doors had been opened from reading Tipping Point. It’s not exactly a new idea that small changes can make big differences, but the examination of circumstances in which small changes could bring important and much-desired results is important. We need more people thinking like Malcolm Gladwell about the solutions to the problems that we face.
In some ways, Gladwell’s books remind me of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. The Art of War is full of examples of small, sometimes counterintuitive changes one can make to strategy which open a space that allows for the desired result. Sun Tzu, like his contemporary Lao Tsu, believed that rushing headlong into battle, army against army, was the result of strategic failure. It is far better to win the war before it has begun. Better still is to get what you want from your enemy while your enemy believes he has gotten the better of you.
So Gladwell posits (and backs up his theory with research) that violent crime can be reduced by focusing on non-violent offenses, cleaning graffiti and ensuring that windows and streetlights are kept in good repair. He examines causes which can be addressed with much greater ease than by dealing with their effects. As our nation and our world gets more densely populated and as technology advances, we need more of this kind of thinking that looks at systemic solutions rather than attempting to confront each problem one at a time.
I have read Tipping Point and
I have read Tipping Point and Outliers, and I agree that Tipping Point brought no new revelations. I thought that Outliers was similarly weak, although the examples were more interesting. Still, I read it in a couple of hours at one sitting, and that tells me there wasn’t a lot of depth. Gladwell just put what appear to be common-sense ideas together into a well-written book. Since common-sense isn’t all that common, it is no wonder that editors and reviewers were “astonished” at his “insights.”
As for graffiti and broken windows causing urban violence, I dunno. Cause or effect? I know if I had to live in ANY urban environment I would probably resort to violence, too. (I say that sitting here looking out my window at green grass, trees budding, daffodils daffing, forsythia sything, and my bicycle calling.)
Dad
I hope that doesn’t mean that
I hope that doesn’t mean that you skipped Blink, which I think was by far the best of his three books.
As for the contents of the other two books, I think he delves a little deeper than plain common sense. Revolutionary? No. Insightful? Yes. Back to my comparison to The Art of War. Even though millions have read The Art of War over the course of the last 2600 years and there’s been plenty of time for its ideas to permeate all the cultures on the planet, there’s a reason that new copies get printed; we need to read it again and again to be reminded of its relevance and to compare its ideas to the current situations we face. The reason common sense is so easily forgotten may be that it isn’t repeated and applied to new situations the way that Gladwell has.
I’ve been meaning to read all
I’ve been meaning to read all three of these books, so I’m glad you’ve read them for me. I’ll start with Blink. 🙂
Tipping point — … common sense
I’ve only read Tipping Point and Blink and I agree with Dad.
> Since common-sense isn’t all that common, it is no wonder that editors and reviewers were “astonished” at his “insights.”
Common sense seems to be the point upon which much of this turns. So where is it? IMHO, it has been the aspect of maturation most often undervalued and undeveloped. The intuition that leads to common sense has been ignored in favor of rote solutions to the most common problems. The abandonment of development of this vital intuition has meant dependence upon others for a supply of synthetic common sense.
Without regular exercise, atrophy of intuition occurs. So, maybe we agree that it is not so much the small changes making big differences as it is the importance of examining the circumstances that facilitate the inauguration of these small changes.
Perception is key to any problem solution. And if the tool set is hamstrung by missing elements, the odds of success are dismal.
So, I maintain that true common sense is not some flighty on-again-off-again gift of the truly worthy but an attribute missing mostly due to lack of practice of its required everyday discipline.
Thanks for salting the idea field — I enjoy your efforts.
Bob Amberger