Tag: Malcolm Gladwell

Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Non-fiction)

Always an engaging storyteller, Gladwell expands on the Tipping Point theme with an array of anecdotes, research, and social trends to show the impact of tipping points in many important constituents of our society. Ranging from localized bank robbery surges to medical mysteries to social epidemics to group proportions to — my favorite — why Harvard cares so much about arcane sports teams (like girl’s rugby), Gladwell works to understand the evolution of social problems and various bits of social engineering that have or could be applied to nudge things in the right direction. He includes several thought provoking ethical questions regarding these issues — no answers, but I always appreciate the ethical angle.

Some of the book sections that I particularly enjoyed: superspreaders — people who spread germs, pollution, bad behavior — spread orders of magnitude more than “regular” people. Group proportions — the “magic” 1/3 which is the fraction of a group that converts token outsiders into fully fledged members, with both good and bad consequences (think white flight and a truly shocking — to me — story of how Harvard developed its complex admissions process). Small area variation — how monocultures in small areas can lead to radically different behavior when compared to neighbor communities. Think vaccination rates, tonsillectomies, or suicide. The Overstory — how a story can get embedded into a culture without anyone being aware of the shifts. My favorite story here — a connection between the legalization of gay marriage and a long running sitcom starring an openly gay man.

In the last chapter — Conclusion — Gladwell applies the tipping point components developed in the book to the opioid crisis — quoting frequently from the Purdue Pharma (makers of Oxycontin) / Sackler family trial. I don’t completely agree with his conclusions, but was pretty shocked by some of the marketing and sales practices the pharmaceutical company used and how beyond effective (in terms of profit) they were.

Overall this was a thought provoking book, and I enjoyed reading it — with the exception of the first chapter about the LA bank robbery surge which for some reason both bored and upset me. If you feel yourself losing interest as well — just skip the first chapter! I quite enjoyed everything after.

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

I always love Gladwell’s books. This one is about the (sometimes very serious) mistakes we make when communicating with strangers. In typical Gladwell style the book blends research with anecdote with analysis of relevant high profile cases — Ana Montes, Bernie Madoff, Jerry Sandusky, Brock Turner, Amanda Knox, and some police departments. Even if you don’t recognize all of the names, you will recognize the cases.

There are three basic components to the problem. Humans are programmed to “default to the truth.” We like to believe people are telling the truth and unless the doubt becomes insurmountable, we have a tendency to rationalize away any misgivings or even the suspicions of others. Ana Montes and Bernie Madoff fall into this category. Transparency is next problem — we expect people’s internal feelings and thoughts to be reflected transparently on their faces … in the way we expect. We have been trained to expect a certain set of behaviors and expressions in someone who is sad, for example. When someone we don’t know behaves according to our expectations, we are confident we understand their inner state; when they don’t, we can easily misinterpret their behavior. Jerry Sandusky and Amanda Knox are cases that illustrate this phenomenon. Lastly, there is the concept of coupling to context. We don’t (can’t) understand the influence of context in which a stranger’s behavior is taking place. Sylvia Plath and Brock Turner (and alcohol) illustrate this point.

What to me is the most important part of the book, however, is that Gladwell points out that if we optimize for suspicion so that people like Ana Montes and Bernie Madoff don’t get away with their crimes for so long, we can tear the fabric of society apart. Most people don’t lie, commit crimes, or run around with malevolent intent, but if we treat everyone as suspicious — particularly those in a specific neighborhood, or with foreign license plates, or with a different colored skin — we run some terrible risks (which he illustrates in some very compelling ways). Now with Covid, it feels like we are viewing every other human being with suspicion.

As with all of Gladwell’s books — full of insight, completely accessible and utterly fascinating.