This year one of my personal goals is to read 15 books. I have a wide range of interests, so it shouldn’t be hard to find enough to fill the year. I thought it might be interesting to give a brief review of the books as I read them.

Last week I finished The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell. I didn’t say that I was reading the most recent books for this goal, so forgive me if this one is old news for many of you. I had previously read Outliers by Gladwell, and enjoyed his writing style. My wife had this book laying around the house, so after the Holidays I gave it a read.

The book discusses what causes some things to “tip”, while others do not. Gladwell uses stories, interviews, and quotes from a variety of studies to lay out his theory on how things tip, and “how little things can make a big difference.”

As with Outliers, I found the book to be an interesting read. Gladwell methodically takes the reader through the points of his theory, and lays them out in a way that is informative, and entertaining. When I picked up the book I didn’t know I’d learn about the differences between Sesame Street and Blues Clues, why The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood became a successful novel, or the relationship between crime and graffiti in New York subways, but indeed all of these topics, and more, were woven together to create an interesting book.

As with Outliers I was left wondering how much of what I read really held up to academic scrutiny, and how much was just Gladwell weaving disparate stories together to fit his theories. Despite that, I found the book to be interesting.

If you are looking for a relatively light read, that is also informative, you may enjoy Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.