Malcolm Gladwell – Christopher Wink

Revenge of the Tipping Point

Out of more than 100,000 American pharmaceutical prescribers, just 2,500 or so are responsible for the opioid addiction crisis that killed a million or more. All told, then, most in the medical community acted responsibly. Unfortunately systems commonly have such “superspreaders” and “small-area variation” is common.

That’s the close of Revenge of the Tipping Point, celebrity intellectual-journalist Malcolm Gladwell’s book marking the 25th anniversary of his first bestseller with a new approach. Gladwell is a victim of his own popularity. But I respect him for developing, popularizing and mastering the form of narrative reporting that makes light-reading of seemingly dense subject matter.

Though the opioid crisis is his grand finale, the book’s theme is actually about how narrative shapes our understanding of ourselves, and of a place. He calls these “overstories,” or broad geographic identifiers that shape behaviors and culture.

“Overstories matter. You can create them. They can spread. They are powerful,” he wrote. “And they can endure for decades.”

Below my notes for future reference.

Notes on Malcolm Gladwell’s 2000 classic ‘Tipping Point’

Nothing more needs to be said on influential journalist Malcolm Gladwell’s first breakout book Tipping Point, which published 15 years ago. Like a lot of popular books, it has been aggressively criticized and dismissed.

Even if his theme is challenged, there are small points that are interesting. Though I read this several years ago, I just reread it and took down a few notes for my own future perusal. I’m sharing them here

Notes from Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Talking to Strangers’

The social human species evolved to default to truth when encountering each other. That works well more than it doesn’t but in complex society it results in many unintended consequences.

That’s the heart of Talking with Strangers, the 2019 book by journalist-public intellectual Malcolm Gladwell. That year, I saw Gladwell speak about his research informing the book. Though I got a copy of the book then, I only just got around to reading it.

Like many others, I enjoy Gladwell and admire the journey he’s taken as journalist, extending into longform narrative nonfiction to push forward our understanding of the world. Below I share a few short notes for myself in the future.

If a topic is boring, then go into more detail: like with spaghetti sauce

When someone is boring me, at a party or in line in the post office, I ask questions.

Now to be fair, I almost always ask questions. Questions are wonderful, provided that there are answers or at least good conversation to be had. Questions are one of the big reasons I do what I do.

It occurred to me recently, though, that that might be novel, at least for some.

That the best way to improve upon a conversation that isn’t much interesting you is to ask questions. That’s how you can direct that conversation and make it into something more than what it would be otherwise.

If you’re talking to a guy who sells fences, you might be bored. But if you talk to him about how different kinds of fence are made, distributed and costs kept low, it could get interesting. Without enough detail, anything can become interesting.

Like spaghetti sauce, as author Malcolm Gladwell showed with a great TED talk back in 2004.