My colleague first raved to me about The Tipping Point in 2005 after Gladwell’s second book, Blink, came out. But I only read it after he lent me his copy. Two pages in and I was fascinated by Gladwell’s ability to slice through chunky facts and figures like hot knife into full-cream premium butter. He makes academic research, social science and psychology hip and relevant. Plus, The Tipping Point was pretty relevant to my line of work. I then bought my own copy together with Blink. And late last year, I got three copies of Gladwell’s latest, Outliers, and gave two as Christmas gifts.
The Tipping Point is about how an idea or product could spread like wildfire if it’s passed through a certain group of people. People with super social skills who are able to spark, connect, and sell to the rest of the world.
Gladwell’s second book, Blink, is about trusting our instincts and how we could be masters at the game of “thin-slicing“.
Outliers propounds that geniuses are nurtured rather than natured. That smart and successful people are a product of their upbringing, environment and circumstances. The book gives solid examples of geniuses such as Bill Gates, Oppenheimer and the Beatles. I take great comfort knowing that destiny lies in our hands and Gladwell’s science supports this.
In fact, many other researchers and scientists have concurred with Gladwell, relegating the notion of born geniuses. Last month, NYTimes’ columnist, David Brooks, wrote a compelling piece titled Genius: The Modern View. Brooks made mention of Gladwell’s 10,000 hours theory—that a person who had 10,000 hours of practicing his or her craft will indeed be very good that that craft.
Okay, these three books aren’t life-altering but they’re definitely good brain food which will somehow reside indelibly in your system.
