The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell examines the moment when an idea, behavior, or product tips from marginal to ubiquitous, arguing that three factors, the handful of people who spread ideas, the stickiness of the idea itself, and the context in which it spreads, determine whether something achieves epidemic status. Drawing on examples from crime in New York City, children's television, and direct mail marketing, Gladwell constructs a model for understanding how social change actually happens rather than how it is supposed to happen.

Gladwell narrates his own work, and his voice carries the storyteller's pleasure in the examples as much as the intellectual pleasure in the argument. His delivery is warm and conversational, making the social science accessible without diluting it, and his pacing ensures that each case study serves the larger thesis rather than overwhelming it. At just over eight hours, The Tipping Point is as engaging a listen as it was on first publication.