The Tipping Point, by Malcom Gladwell

While the rest of the country is reading Blink, I’m just getting around to Gladwell’s first best seller. After all the positive buzz, I was surprised this seemed so light in actual conclusions. The basic idea is that when a phenomenon reaches a certain critical mass (the “tipping point” of the title), it will grow exponentially. While an interesting thought, it isn’t supported by anything but a collection of anecdotes. I enjoyed reading it, but it took a long time to get through it because there wasn’t much substance.

First Sentence:

In the mid-1990s, the city of Baltimore was attacked by an epidemic of syphilis.