(no subject)

[skygiants]

I feel like everyone in the world has heard of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point (which may have been why I was resistant to reading it for so long) but, for those who have not: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference is basically an attempt to explain trend theory and idea transmission. (It is only a shame it was written in the days before cat macros.) It is not the fault of The Tipping Point that as I was reading it, I kept being insistently reminded of Connie Willis' Bellwether, a novel about . . . someone who is attempting to explain trend theory and idea transmission. Bellwether [SPOILER] basically ends with the protagonist going "I'VE GOT IT! People are like SHEEP! And trends are caused by LEADER SHEEP!" Which, fond as I am of Connie Willis in general, has never seemed particularly deep or insightful to me.

The Tipping Point does not actually think that trends are caused by LEADER SHEEP, exactly, but it does attempt to narrow trend theory down to a few relatively basic factors. One of the book's major claims is that trends are caused, or at least helped along, by the support of particular special types of people who are good at connecting people and spreading information along. There are a lot of very interesting studies and experiments quoted - some of which I had heard of before, others not - and Gladwell is definitely an engaging writer, but I am not sure that it is as much a Grand Unified Theory of Everything as Gladwell thinks it is. (On the other hand, I never believe in Grand Unified Theories of Everything. I read nonfiction like some people watch the skies for enemy forces. CONSTANT VIGILANCE.) A good example is the Paul Revere theory. "Paul Revere succeeded in his midnight ride because he had a special kind of personality type who fits my criteria for these special people!" says Gladwell, and draws an engaging and entertaining portrait to demonstrate it that I very much enjoyed reading, but nonetheless is a bit hard to use for conclusive evidence given the fact that Paul Revere lived over two hundred years ago and so it's difficult to state much about what his personality was like.

Unrelated to anything factual or psychological, I have to say, the most entertaining part of the book for me was during the part where Gladwell talks about the shift in crime levels in New York City in the 1980's and the 1990's, and draws a hilariously dramatic picture of a CITY OF TERROR, where the streets are a place of constant danger, the graffiti-covered subways lurch emptily through the underground, and someone might snap and start shooting passersby AT ANY MOMENT. I mean, I guess it is possible that I simply blocked all the gunshots and days of scuttling through the streets in full body armor out of my infant memories of Manhattan . . .

Comments

also, I feel like a nerd.

[kiarasayre.livejournal.com]

Until Malcolm Gladwell writes a book describing how trend theory explains the discrepancy between mechanics and quantum mechanics while simultaneously discovering the true identities of dark matter and dark energy, he is, IMHO, a far cry from Grand Unified Theory of Everything.

TAKE THAT, MALCOLM GLADWELL.

Re: also, I feel like a nerd.

[skygiants]

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Did you hear that, Malcolm Gladwell? THE GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN.

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

It is times like these when I lament my lack of a Laughing Man icon.

I prefer trend theory to be accompanied by cyborg cops.

[skygiants]

As do all right-thinking persons, obviously.

[elspeth-vimes.livejournal.com]

But of course, but of course.

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah, not to mention the fact that Paul Revere did not actually succeed in his midnight ride, because he got caught about halfway through, and was not actually alone on said midnight ride, because there were two other guys with him. If people did their research I would enjoy some books a whole lot more, I think.

(no a tenth-century noblewoman would not be horrified by lice since she would have had them all her life wtf what even)

[skygiants]

Well, to be fair, Gladwell's criteria for 'success' is more 'managed to reach the right people' and 'caught people's attention' than 'made it all the way through', so I'm not dinging him for that. The two other guys is definitely ALSO a point, though.

(. . . ahahahaha what who would even)

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there was someone named Prescott and a dude named Joseph Dawes along for the ride. I think both of them managed to finished.

(I DON'T EVEN KNOW. It was some book about Princess Joan, Henry II and Eleanor's daughter. It seemed pretty well researched up until then and then I was just all "WHAT.")

[skygiants]

(HAHA WAIT I THINK I MAYBE READ THAT. Was it a loltastic romance novel about Joan following Richard to the Crusades?)

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Actually, until about the last forty pages or so it was a really well-researched historical novel about Joan's life. AND THEN SUDDENLY it was a loltastic romance novel about Joan and her second husband who up until then had been this womanizing jerk. I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

Although Joan actually did follow Richard to the Crusades. There was this whole thing about maybe marrying her to Saladin's brother but she threw a fit because he was Muslim.

[skygiants]

Ha - I actually wrote a paper in college about Joan and her trip to the Crusades and the Al-Adil marriage gambit. (Which is actually the reason that I read the aforementioned romance novel to begin with. It was ~research~ for the section of the paper talking about contemporary perception of those wacky Plantagenets!)

[bookblather.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I love ~research~ like that. I got to read some really terrible novels for my thesis on contemporary perceptions of the Civil War. So much fun.

(...I don't suppose you have that paper lying around still? I love reading actual trufax history and my local library is sadly lacking.)

[skygiants]

Hah, that does in fact sound like fun! Basically I spent my college years coming up with excuses to write papers about romance/fantasy/YA novels. Because I am a serious scholar, etc. IT WAS AWESOME.

(. . . it's possible! I will take a look. *laughing*)

[blacksheep91.livejournal.com]

So wait, wait, wasn't Paul Revere just one of the guys sitting around the bar? Wasn't there like, several others working together to spread the word? And some guy wanted to insight patriotism and nothing rhymed with the other guys' names? (I mean, you're not just going to start shouting in the middle of the night, "Alright chumps, lets do this-REEEEEEEEVOLUUUUUUUTIONNNNN!!!" because the British would totally hear you and be like, "What? Bro, no. *bang*"

[skygiants]

Well, according to Gladwell - and bear in mind I am in no way a scholar of that time period, so I am in no position to critique the accuracy! - there was at least one other guy who went to a bunch of different towns and managed to raise, like, ten people to fight the British. As opposed to Paul Revere (and friends?) who managed to talk an epic ton of people into coming. And from this he makes his point that Paul Revere must've been a connected convincing trend-starting person, etc., as opposed to this poor other fellow who was The Guy Who Didn't Raise The Revolution.

[genarti]

Two other guys, as above! And, I dunno, the version I've always heard* is that Paul Revere was totally the most inept of the three, and did the least (at least in this; he was decently well known as a silversmith and political cartoonist and pro-Revolution propagandist), but by god his name rhymed best when Longfellow was trying to write a patriotic poem later. And thus everybody nowadays knows LISTEN MY CHILDREN AND YOU SHALL HEAR / OF THE MIDNIGHT RIDE OF PAUL REVERE and the "one if by land, two if by sea" semi-quote, although Dawes and Prescott actually accomplished more in terms of spreading the word.

But that may well be revisionist or cranky anti-Longfellow sentiment or something. I'm not at all a scholar of the period in any focused way. I just live in a city where we have 1534984354 Revolutionary War educational monuments, which is rather an overview version. One hopes that Gladwell did more research than I've done here, so... I dunno. This has been a thoroughly unhelpful comment. :D

*For a value of "always" that means "since moving to Boston at age 18." We didn't cover that bit in AP US History, and every other class I had just went PAUL REVERE! LEXINGTON AND CONCORD! BOSTON MASSACRE AND CRISPUS ATTUCKS! OKAY KIDS LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND THE STAMP ACT.

[skygiants]

*cracking up* I am mostly just enormously entertained that 50% of the comments on this book review of pop psychology are serious debates on the historical role of Paul Revere as perceived throughout history. I love my flist.

One of these days I will actually come visit Boston and DO the monuments thing! One . . . day . . .

[genarti]

HISTORY IS SRS BSNS OKAY. *laughing* I'm kind of surprised you thought it'd be anything else...

Do! Come sometime in nice weather and I'll take you out to Lexington and Concord and we'll do the Minuteman National Park. Historical AND very pretty! And there's a wetlands refuge not too far away if you want more in the way of actual nature-type hiking. I'll ramble about numinous great blue herons or something.

That said, uh, next time we go to Harvard Square I can point you to the defiant little William Dawes monument there, which has brass hoofprints embedded in the sidewalk for several yards to remind you that he did, in fact, ride a horse also.

[skygiants]

Well, I mean, I also talk about a Connie Willis novel and about NYC, some of which are relevant to the interests of some other bits of my flist! THEY MIGHT ALSO have been potential topics for discussion. So it was a toss-up really. *giggling*

I am in favor of historical and pretty! But I reject your lesser numinous blue herons. If we are to go a-wetlanding, I DEMAND NUMINOUS SHARKS. Lesser numinous wildlife need not apply.

Awwww, William Dawes!

[batyatoon]

I actually really like Bellwether! But it is largely because I see her final revelation as a MOMENT OF DELUSION OF CLARITY rather than an actual insight, and I think it still works.

[skygiants]

I really liked Bellwether when I first read it, and it's one of those books I kind of wish I hadn't reread because of things that bother me now that didn't ten years ago. It is still hilarious, though; Connie Willis is still queen of slapstick.