Everything you need to understand or teach The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
In The Tipping Point, Gladwell follows trends from their inception to their end and tries to discover why some ideas "tip" and others do not. First, Gladwell gives the three rules for the tipping point: contagiousness; the fact that little causes can have big effects; and change happens in one moment.
In the opening chapter of the book, Gladwell uses the syphilis epidemic of Baltimore, along with other outbreaks of disease, to illustrate his three rules. He restates the three rules more simply as the law of few, the stickiness factor and the power of context.
In Baltimore in recent years, syphilis cases have spiked dramatically. Gladwell assumes that a few key infected persons spread the disease throughout the city. He cites documented cases of HIV spreading in just that manner, thus establishing the law of few. The stickiness factor inherently exists with disease outbreak, though cuts to public health... View more of the The Tipping Point Summary
