Gladwell, Malcolm,The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, 2000.

This deftly written volume of social psychology sheds new light on why major changes in society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas, behaviors and even consumer products, Gladwell says, can catch on and spread like epidemics.

The Tipping Point “is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” It’s the instant when a social epidemic picks up speed and really takes off. Gladwell uses a series of case studies to drive home his major points, including that the key to getting people to change their behavior – to participate in an epidemic – sometimes lies with the smallest details of their immediate situation.

TTP is a good read and an interesting book. I have so often recommended it, however, because of the way it explains how people are connected. It sheds new light on why some people are great networkers. This is a fun and useful book if you’re looking for a new job or more customers, or you want some practical insights into the course of consumer demand or social change.