The tipping point malcolm gladwell pdf download

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Essay lost continent? Cover letter for college art professor theme essay on dance in the 21st century. Type my esl definition essay on presidential elections. Buy environmental studies cv. And thus they are liberated from the fear of failure, and—like the successful dyslexic—are willing to try things and take risks that others are not which often leads directly to success.

The same experience and logic can also apply to underdog groups. For example, when a group recognizes that it is severely over-matched in terms of skill or strength compared to its opponent, it can begin to feel liberated to try unconventional tactics and approaches. This is often for the best, for it turns out that unconventional tactics and approaches are frequently very effective against giants—in everything from sports, to politics to war—and are, in many cases, the only chance the underdog has to win anyway.

Again, then, in both of these instances the trauma victim and the underdog group a disadvantage has driven the party into a position of advantage, and thus the disadvantage may itself be seen as a kind of boon.

Gladwell has done well to make us rethink the nature of advantages and disadvantages across many fields. The only major flaw in the book, in my view, is the third and final part. The theme of the part is that power becomes less effective or even counter-productive when it is wielded illegitimately. The problem with this argument is that it's a classic case of the straw-man: Gladwell has set up an opposition that is very easy to defeat, and then smashed it to pieces.

What's worse is that the examples Gladwell uses to prove his point here are quite weak. Still, there is much of value in the first 2 parts of the book. A podcast discussion of the book will be available shortly thereafter.

Dec 09, Ryan rated it liked it. Chicken Soup for the Pop Psychologist's Soul. Or something like that. The plural of anecdote is not data. And when Mr. Gladwell has a hammer, everything looks like a nail. That is, he is a very persuasive writer, but ultimately I'm not really convinced about all of his conclusions. Do I need to point out that as social science goes, this is heavy on the social and light on the science?

You probably already knew that. Anyway, I did enjoy this one. Everyone loves an underdog. And I enjoyed his retelling of certain historical events and eras. It makes me want to go back and do my own research on some of those stories to see how much of the telling is Gladwell's and how much is actually history. I listened to this on audiobook, and Gladwell narrated. Excellent choice. Dec 03, Mehrsa rated it really liked it.

As with everything Gladwell, this book is a fun and fast read that is not at all careful with its conclusions. It's not careful scholarship, but Gladwell doesn't claim it to me. In other words, he tells a story with great anecdotes and some data that doesn't always support the point he is making. However, I believe the point he is making in David and Goliath that underdogs can have hidden strengths and that trials and tragedy can lead to strong character.

The point is valid and the stories are As with everything Gladwell, this book is a fun and fast read that is not at all careful with its conclusions. The point is valid and the stories are riveting. As with all of his books, I learned a lot about some key historical figures as well as some key historical events and came away with a different perspective on my own assumptions. It was also an inspiring read and the stories were really well-written. But of course, I think he over-reaches in many of his conclusions.

David and Goliath is an excellent case in point. You might assume, as I so naturally did, that the Biblical tale of David and Goliath illustrates how the weak can overcome the strong.

Leave it to Malcolm Gladwell to demonstrate that in reality this oft-told story demonstrates precisely the opposite. According to Gladwell and to the numerous academic researchers whose work he cites , Goliath was massively vulnerable — in large part precisely because he was truly a giant — and David possessed an enormous advantage in his own right from the moment he walked onto the field of battle. The outcome of the battle was foreordained. In this out-of-left-field manner, Gladwell draws diverse examples from all over the map to illustrate his principal points: overwhelming power can easily prove to be a disadvantage, while disability and weakness can lead to surprising success.

Gladwell writes about how dyslexia has proven to be the hidden key to success among a great many highly successful people, including such notables as Richard Branson and Charles Schwab. David and Goliath is endlessly fascinating.

Sep 13, Belhor Crowley rated it really liked it Shelves: favorites , other-none-fiction. I stayed up reading this book until I finished it, not only because I'm currently five books behind schedule and I just had two very big cups of tea, but also because this book, like most of Gladwell's other books, is very readable and engaging. Well at least it was to me! I am of course, aware of the criticism this book has received, and I agree that his arguments should be taken But even so, I still believe much of his arguments will hold, at least partially.

Gladw I stayed up reading this book until I finished it, not only because I'm currently five books behind schedule and I just had two very big cups of tea, but also because this book, like most of Gladwell's other books, is very readable and engaging.

Gladwell sees things differently, and that is also one of the reasons why I enjoy reading his books! He has this thing were he can put a bunch of stuff together and come up with brilliant conclusions. I love that! I struggled whether I should give this one five stars or four. It actually does matter to me! Stars aren't for free now are they?! I'm going to give this one four stars anyways. Off to read more of Gladwell soon enough!

View all 8 comments. Gladwell Dropped the Rock I read this upon its publication a few years ago. A few of his anecdotes, for example those relating to schooling, seemed a real stretch to support the book's theme of David v. At times, it felt like he'd found some unrelated stories and tried to cobble th Gladwell Dropped the Rock I read this upon its publication a few years ago. At times, it felt like he'd found some unrelated stories and tried to cobble them into a proof of his hypothesis.

I still appreciate Gladwell's work and his contribution to American letters. This appears to be an aberration. An intriguing and fascinating read which lets readers to travel through colourful case studies about characters ranging from misfits to underdogs who had overturned their difficulties and challenges in their respective social environments and natural attributes i.

More importantly, Gladwell examines WHY underdogs succeed when odds are totally against them. A wonderful counterintuitive exploration combining Gladwell's crafty, intoxicating s An intriguing and fascinating read which lets readers to travel through colourful case studies about characters ranging from misfits to underdogs who had overturned their difficulties and challenges in their respective social environments and natural attributes i.

A wonderful counterintuitive exploration combining Gladwell's crafty, intoxicating storytelling with fascinating facts regarding cancer treatment, Battle of Britain, civil right movements and admission into elite institutions. Jan 12, Sarah rated it did not like it Shelves: book-club-reads. This is the kind of book I would normally dismiss immediately, but as a book club pick I gave it a shot.

I started with a sample on my kindle, but after falling asleep several times reading that I transitioned to audio-book so I could listen while driving. At about 3 chapters in, I wanted to quit. Both the content and the style of writing were the opposite of interesting to me. Obviously the author is trying to make a point and I understood that all of the anecdotal comparisons should be leading This is the kind of book I would normally dismiss immediately, but as a book club pick I gave it a shot.

Obviously the author is trying to make a point and I understood that all of the anecdotal comparisons should be leading me towards a conclusion of some kind. But either I'm too dense, or it's too obvious. Because I have no idea what this book is about. Story after story circles back making loose comparisons without much progression.

Bibles and basketball to class size and Impressionism. And on my side, a nap while trying to give it a listen on a Saturday afternoon.

After waking up Note that some of the stories are interesting in themselves, but I think that the connections Gladwell is trying to make to prove his point are tenuous at best. They could also just be coincidences. Yes some people are successful despite overcoming difficulties, but many are not. When he does make a point it seems almost a "gotcha" moment as you're wrapping up one story and he suddenly circles you back to something covered a chapter ago and tries to make a connection Maybe these times were an AHA moment for some, but I continued to be unimpressed.

Over halfway through was giving this a fair shake, I think, and turned my attentions to more interesting activities. But then I just had to finish. I knew if I really wanted to write this review it had to be with a full knowledge of what the book entailed. Apparently these books are popular because they translate the social sciences to the masses.

And while I do think social sciences are interesting, results of these types of studies can be easily manipulated to make a point. The Wall Street Journal's review sums it up nicely, "Malcolm Gladwell too often presents as proven laws what are just intriguing possibilities and musings about human behavior. You can't make pages out of interesting possibilities and musings.

At least not one I want to read. It seems to me that while there might be some bits to learn here, the whole thing is strung together with such tenuous threads it's hard to take any of it seriously.

As you can guess from the title, this is the book about how underdogs break the rules and defeat the privileged. As usual, Gladwell introduced many interesting examples to show his points. But he managed to bring his team to the national championship.

Gladwell explained the strategie As you can guess from the title, this is the book about how underdogs break the rules and defeat the privileged. I wish Gladwell went deeper than this.

In his last book Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell introduced "the 10,hr rule" as "a key in success".

I thought it was an overly simplified conclusion, and I strongly disagreed with it. It could be even harmful if you take his conclusions as the definite truth. Having said that, this is an encouraging book for underdogs who have dyslexia or hard childhood.

Gladwell is a great story teller, and I always admire and enjoy his writing. Malcolm Gladwell shows why you don't always have to be Goliath to win. He explains why places such as a rebellious Northern Ireland, London during the Blitz, Birmingham in the American Civil Rights Movement, and a small town in Nazi occupied France, were able to triumph over stronger opponents. We meet remarkable underdogs like Jay Freireich, the doctor who revolutionised treatment for children with leukaemia, and David Boies, a dyslexic trial attorney, who shouldn't have triumphed but did.

Glad Malcolm Gladwell shows why you don't always have to be Goliath to win. Gladwell has a talent for presenting interesting subject matter in an entertaining way. He is an astute observer of the human condition. I love the way that he makes people think with his research and observations.

He does not present his writing as fact but rather as a tool to engage people. Bigger isn't always better. Neither is smaller. Read David and Goliath to find out why. Dec 16, Daniel Bastian rated it liked it Shelves: reviewed. Unless, that is, you happen to be cycling through Gladwell territory, where tucked away inside every myth, anecdote, or counterintuitive result is a profound lesson about the human condition. This is harmless enough when confined to the fiction aisles of your local library, but Gladwell presents his ideas as scientifically respectable, even moving well beyond the academic literature and into high-concept generalization.

And this is what gets him in the hot seat. By now we're all familiar with Gladwell's tried and true formula: packaging a mixed bag of vignettes that loosely revolve around some common theme. His latest book, eponymous with the biblical tale implanted in every child's vocabulary, serves as the hub with which his assorted case studies can network. The humble stone-slinger slays the mighty warrior—the archetypal underdog story.

Except Gladwell upends this classic tale and contends that any ostensible disadvantages on the part of David were actually aptitudes, and vice versa for Goliath. One of Time 's most influential people of , Gladwell's ability to craft absorbing narrative merits the lavish acclaim from the popular press, but the accolades stop there. His cultivated habit of extrapolating grand truths from flimsy research has proved time and again his Achilles' heel.

The anecdotes he recounts stand by themselves and gain nothing by being tangled in with pop-psychology, especially when there is actual peer-reviewed research into many of the areas Gladwell touches. Gladwell leans all of his weight on a small-sampled read: underpowered study which found that less legible fonts activated higher performance in students, presumably because the students worked through the problems more slowly in order to decode the typeface.

Yet, as psychology professor Christopher F. Chabris points out , Gladwell conveniently omits any reference to the replication studies of superior statistical power that failed to reproduce this result. That the study Gladwell makes such heavy weather of is plagued with sampling, selection effect, and other confounds does not bode well for his thesis.

Pesky details are of trifling importance to Gladwell, who steers the data in directions both cliched and maudlin. Replication results notwithstanding, are we to really believe that the authors of the typeface study suppose their findings reveal some deep lesson about turning adversity into triumph?

You could fill a supertanker with all of the sociological and psychological layers pushed to the periphery in favor of his handpicked fiction. The balance of his thesis rests on self-reported anecdote by real-life Davids who faced down their own Goliaths. There is nothing so prescient as hindsight, especially when other factors stab at the provocative narrative hanging in the balance. Complications be damned: it can only be adversity that produces successful outcomes which, curiously, seems to knock against his thesis in Outliers , which replaces adversity with caprice and right-place right-timeness.

How many rabbits will he pull out of the same hat before even his unsuspecting readership cry foul? And it gets worse for Gladwell. One need not inventory his entire catalog, as his scuffles with internal contradiction can be found in adjoining chapters of David and Goliath. After tagging dyslexia as a "desirable difficulty" that breeds success, he juxtaposes a story about a would-be scientist who dropped out of school because she encountered undesirable difficulties at a renowned university.

By relying on Gladwell's vacuum-packed logic of the preceding chapters, one is left scratching his head as to why the "small-fish-big-pond" schematic wasn't parlayed into the successes afforded the world's dyslexics. For Gladwell, it seems, difficulty is a good thing until it isn't, which smells as fallacy-laden as the aphorism 'If you're not early you're late. Gladwell tells us plainly that David actually had the sizable advantage since lithe marksmen were always favored over cumbrous infantrymen clad in heavy armor.

Within the conventional confines of ancient warfare, it was Goliath who was the decided underdog. Is it really advantageous to have severe dyslexia? Yes, and certainly not. Are children better off without their parents? For example, why not mention the ongoing research on the comparative value of attending elite vs.

Why not discuss the actual research on age-specific impairments of dyslexia? Or why not, even if only in one of his many footnotes, source the relevant literature for the science behind "desirable difficulty"?

Instead, those who want to become astronomical successes must also cultivate social smarts and talent; raw intelligence is not enough of a crutch for most.

But outliers are by definition rare. So Gladwell advises those who would be disappointed to count their blessings, particularly as many outlier successes have difficult childhoods. Please take a moment to pin this post to Pinterest. Share Pin Tweet. A 3 Minute Summary of the 15 Core Lessons 1 Success Comes From Lots of Factors More than any single idea, Gladwell presents the concept that individual success is the result of multiple factors mingling and mixing together to form a perfect storm of circumstance and talent.

Once it does, it becomes the kind of thing that makes you grab your wife around the waist and dance a jig. This passage reminds us that no single one of the three laws of social epidemics can sufficiently explain a social epidemic: only the combination of people, a sticky product, and the right environment can start a trend. Ad agencies have spent millions of dollars trying to find what makes a message sticky.

One interesting finding is that people need to see an ad about six times before they really remember it. Then there are other ways to make the ad more memorable: using humor, getting a famous celebrity to endorse a product, etc. One of the most informative stories from the history of advertising came in the s, when there was a competition between the ad agency McCann Erickson and the famous marketer Lester Wunderman.

For years, Wunderman had been handling ads for the Columbia Record Club, a huge mail order club. Now, Columbia wanted to employ McCann Erickson to handle its advertising. Wunderman proposed a competition: he would design magazine ads for Columbia, to compete with those designed by McCann Erickson.

The ad campaign was hugely successful, even though executives were highly skeptical that it would work when Wunderman first proposed it. The gold box ad campaign was successful because it made TV viewers and magazine readers more likely to remember the Columbia Record Club itself.

This would suggest that stickiness often has very little to with cleverness or inventiveness. Related Quotes with Explanations. Subjects were divided into two groups: one group was given a booklet about the importance of tetanus inoculation; the other was given a booklet about the grotesque dangers of getting tetanus.

Afterwards, it was found that people in the latter group were much more likely to say they were going to get their tetanus shots. But surprisingly, in the weeks following the experiment, almost none of the subjects actually got their tetanus shots—the fear and education wore off.

Then, when the scientists tried the experiment again, they gave all subjects a map of the local area, showing where one could get tetanus shots. This time, a large portion of people from both control groups eventually got their tetanus shots.