The World's Best Book Summaries
In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains how social epidemics — spreading ideas, messages, behaviors, and products — function like viruses, growing gradually until they reach a critical mass (the tipping point) and explode. What are some good tipping-point examples? We’ll look at two powerful tipping-point examples from Gladwell’s book and discuss how epidemics occur in both the medical and social worlds.
What are the causes of teenage smoking? How can we prevent teenage smoking? We’ll use the principles of epidemics to explore possible solutions to the problem of teen smoking.
In the mid-1990s, a syphilis epidemic exploded in Baltimore. The disease had been present in the city previously, but the confluence of a few, relatively minor factors created a tipping point; all three rules of epidemics were at work. What are the three rules of epidemics? How do these rules transcend medical epidemics and apply to the spread of ideas? Learn how the lessons from Baltimore’s syphilis epidemic apply to your life–small factors can make a big difference.
What is the fundamental attribution error? Do you make it? How is it related to the power of social context? The Fundamental Attribution Error is a psychological term for humans’ tendency to overestimate the importance of fundamental personality traits in explaining people’s behaviors, and underestimate the role of context. In other words, when we see someone behave a certain way, we’re more likely to assume it’s a fundamental personality trait, rather than the influence of temporary context. We’ll cover the fundamental attribution error and look at examples of the fundamental attribution error, or fundamental attribution bias.
How are depression and isolation connected? How has social isolation increased with advances in technology? What is the link between social isolation and suicide? We’ll cover the rise of isolation in the Information Age and how depression and isolation reinforce each other and can become contagious.
What are clean needle exchanges? Do they work in combatting HIV/AIDS? We’ll cover the effectiveness of clean needle exchanges in Baltimore and look at how they utilize the diffusion model to increase access to clean syringes and lower HIV rates.
What is a tipping point? What does “tipping point” mean? How are tipping points related to epidemics? How can you use the theory of tipping points to spread your ideas? A tipping point is a critical moment when a minor change makes all the difference. This is the point at which a movement reaches a boiling point or critical mass and explodes. We’ll cover the meaning of “tipping point” in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point and explore examples that answer the question, What is a tipping point?
What is the Kevin Bacon game? How is it played? Where did the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon come from? Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon) is a game in which you attempt to link any Hollywood actor to Kevin Bacon is six steps or fewer. The game came out of the six degrees of separation theory. We’ll cover how to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and what the game says about how we’re all connected.
How has the Information Age impacted the way we interact with one another? There undoubtedly many positive consequences. What are the negative outcomes? We’ll cover three ways the Information Age has impacted social epidemics, or the spread of ideas: the rise of isolationism, the rise of immunity, and the issue of finding “mavens,” people to help spread information.
What is the Law of the Few? Where does it come from? Why is it important in business, sales, and marketing? The Law of the Few is the idea that certain types of people are especially effective at spreading an infectious idea, product, or behavior. This idea was popularized in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. We’ll cover examples of the Law of the Few and look at why the messengers matter in the art of marketing.