The Tipping Point

Short summary :

A book on how epidemics spread, and how something that turns into an overnight phenomena is also a kind of epidemic. They are usually the spread because these ideas reach the right kind of people, and the ideas have something special about them. The three types of people who must be involved to spread the ideas are mavens (people who know a lot of things about a specialised thing) , connectors ( people who can spread an idea to other people) and Salesmen ( people who sort of make others imitate them. These guys have charisma) The connectors help to spread the idea, mavens assure you that you are doing the right thing, and the salesmen ensure that the masses start following whatever the mavens have discovered and the connectors have spread word about.

There are also certain laws to be considered in the spread of an epidemic ;

The law of the few : everyone can be connected to another with a few people ( 6 hops thing). Also, we cannot logically invest time in more than about 150 people altogether. If we try to invest time in more numbers than these, we start feeling stretched, and we wont be able to hold up. So the number of best friends / family etc that you are really connected to is limited.

The stickiness factor : The kind of idea that you are trying to spread is very important. IT must have a certain amount of stickiness to it, or it wont spread. Read, not too many ppl will be interested in it.

The power of context : Even if the idea is right, unless the surrounding conditions are right, the idea will not spread. Plus, the kind of context that you are put in, as a human matters a lot. If you are in a rat hole, you will behave like a rat.

Humans are influenced a lot more by what others do than we think we are. We get influenced by what others tell, think, do and so on. Each of the actions that they do eventually determine the kind of decisions we make with regard to epidemics. (And even otherwise, wrt any kind of situation)

Review :

This book is a great read, with respect to the presentation. Keeps you gripped throughout. However, I am not sure how true the facts and theories presented in the book are. Except for the realness factor, a great read.