The Final Look at the Tipping Point

While reading the rest of the book, I discovered many interesting points that I never knew had an impact on one another. Gladwell uses real life events in order to explain his argument making it more comprehensible for readers. In chapter 3, “the Stickiness Factor”, Gladwell discusses how something memorable can have a major impact on the tipping point. The fact that something appeals to a large group helps to set off an epidemic in some sort of way. Sesame Street and Blues Clues are two examples used by Gladwell in order to explain his “stickiness” theory. He explains how children can learn through different teaching methods of reading and counting rather than the in class technique. It appeals to children in different ways as the shows bring in different characters or puppets in order to express teaching in different ways. Overall, this chapter covers the fact of “the stickiness factor” which is the phenomenon to “stick” a thought or trend etc. in the minds of people and influence their behavior. The next chapter, “the Power of Context (part 1) refers to the fact that the enviornment or something historical can have a impact on the tipping point as well. The main thing that stood out to me in this chapter was the fact that the decline in crime rates occurred in New York City due to a couple of enviornmental changes made by the mayor and the city officials. They began with small goals that could possibly make a difference within the whole community. City officials began painting over graffiti, cracking down on subway toll skippers, and dissuading public acts of degeneracy. Gladwell continues to explain how this also helped the decline in crack cocaine use and the aging of the population. This is very amusing as it particularly proved his point regarding how little things make a big difference. I also never thought about how the atmosphere could have a major impact on someone or a city as it did in New York City in the 1990s where a decline in crimes occurred due to all those little changes.
The next chapter pretty much explains how groups of less than 150 members usually display a level of intimacy, interdependency, and efficiency that begins to disappear as soon as the group gets bigger than 150 showing how something has to appeal to a large group of people. In the final chapters of the book Gladwell continues to explain different things that help the tipping point occur as a social epidemic. The blowout of the airwalk shoes and how they were designed for skateboarders but became a big hit for the nation. Gladwell then brings up the relationship between suicide rates of teens in a city and the problem of persistant use of cigarettes by teens.

This was a very interesting example as he continued to explain many reasons of these events “tipped” through the methods described in previous chapters. The second last chapter “Conclusion: Focus, Test, Believe” interested me the most as Gladwell’s final chapter talks about how something low-key, cummulative can build up over time and then turn into a massive tipping point. This book overall, gave me a greater perception of the world and how everything is affected by one thing or another. This was a very interesting book that helped to explain arguments of the tipping point but it also explained the many events that occurred in the past and what “tipped” them in the first place.

Were only human...

"""Those Grand Dukes were all the same – they looked marvelous but there was nothing behind. Green eye, fine hands and shoulders, peace-loving timorous. They drank so as not to be afraid. They were tall and handsome and splendid, but behind it all – nothing just vodka and the void” (Picardie 128).

Chanel was only human, and all caught up in all the glitz of life I found that Chanel really stuck to who she was. I absolutely love this quote found about the middle of the biography. Naturally, as society would see, Dukes to be grand and “perfect” however; I felt a real connection with Chanel. Chanel didn’t believe it, nor do I… no one is perfect. People do have problems, fears and obstacles in life, but with a perfect image set there comes huge responsibilities. On the other hand at that time and age Alcohol was presented for guests, and void. As a reminder it was the time of WWII in which there was depression as well.

In saying so, this quote also proves my previous point; Chanel was human even behind it all…

She hated the sight of doors... I don't blame her...

“There are yet more Chinese screens hiding the doors (Chanel hated the sight of doors, she said, they reminded her of those who has already left, and those who would leave again).”

After reading this quote, I couldn’t help but find myself flipping back to the beginning of the biography. I found this so striking… why was Chanel so narrow minded? Well considering her dark stages of her life started when she was so young… Chanel was an orphan by a young age; her father had dropped her and two Sisters, Julia and Antoinette, soon after the death of her mother at an orphanage in Aubazine in central France. Throughout the book we find a common occurrence of people in Chanel’s life leaving, such as family, friends and loved ones. With this common occurrence it’s only natural to shun people out as well in this case objects that remind you of the past or the future. This is one of many reasons why Chanel see’s the world pretty much half empty rather than full. Instead of seeing doors as an opportunity for the new entrances of life, Chanel takes the opposite. Naturally, I found this to be a page stopper; I had to really go in depth after pretty much every chapter. This theme was obviously quite life impacting, considering Chanel couldn’t even stand the sight of doors. This even reminds the reader Chanel was broken inside and how human Chanel was.

Blog #3

Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller

In the first section of the book, Why Your World Is About To Get A Whole Lot Smaller, Jeff Rubin explains why world oil supplies will not keep up with demand. The second section of the book focuses on the cause of this dilemma and how this situation will continue to worsen. Lastly, the final remarks describe how our transformed world will appear in the future.

Simply, our world is about to get a whole lot smaller in terms of where we live, how we live, and where we purchase our consumable goods. On average, the food we purchase today is transported between fifteen hundred and three thousand miles. For instance, we enjoy blueberries from Chile and lamb from New Zealand, but not for long. The transportation of this food not only consumes a tremendous amount of energy to ship it, but a huge amount of energy to maintain a cool temperature to preserve it as well. Local seasonal food will soon be the norm. The fish on the local restaurant menu will not come from the waters of Alaska, but rather the Great Lakes.

Air travel cost will exceed the average consumer. This will eliminate foreign travel but will aid economic growth for local tourist attractions. Rather than your tourists coming from Europe, they will be your local friends and neighbours. Also, suburban sprawl will diminish as gasoline prices rise to the point that it will not be affordable to drive long distances for employment. In addition, the inexpensive land once used to build affordable suburban homes, will increase in value as the demand for farmland increases.

In closing, this transformation is not all bad. What may be damaging to some economies, will be a great injection to others such as the North American manufacturers. It is imperative that we lessen the burning of fossil fuels and in turn discover an alternative for reducing our carbon foot print.

The Law of the Few

Gladwell continues to prove his point regarding his thesis that “the possibility that sometimes big changes follow from small events, and sometimes these changes can happen very quickly” (11). He began the book by telling the readers about the hush puppies phenomena and continued to expand is point on how little things make a big difference. He begins to explain to the readers the Rules of Epidemics by introducing us to The Law of the Few which is a separate chapter. In this chapter, he begins with a very interesting point that I never realised of the 80/20 Principle which states that 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants. This really surprised as I never realised as this was the case almost most of the time. A historical occurrence is mentioned later in the chapter when Paul Revere, a silversmith, rode across many cities in America and told every city and town that he passed about the British trying to cause problems. This is one of the most historical examples of a word-of-mouth epidemic as a piece of extraordinary news that travelled a long distance in a short period of time. The word-of-mouth continues even in this age today as companies use multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns to get what they need to get across. Gladwell continues to explain that it is an important form of human communication and that it remains very mysterious. Furthermore, he also mentions that the word-of-mouth appeals have become the only kind of persuasion that most people respond to anymore. He continues to explain within the book as Paul Revere’s success of starting this word-of-mouth epidemic was “heavily dependant on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” (33)
Once Gladwell introduced the chapter to the readers, he got into the different people who help these social epidemics occur. Connectors are the first people mentioned by Gladwell who have an impact on social epidemics. He says connectors are people with a special gift who bring the world together and have a “knack” for making friends and acquaintances. He then mentions the next people who have an impact on social epidemics; they are mavens. Mavens are people who want to “solve other people’s problems, generally by solving his own”. (66) This is very interesting as he also mentioned that it also works the opposite way as these people solve their own emotional problems to help others. Mavens seem to be “information brokers” who like to share and trade information that they know. (69) The last set of people brought up by Gladwell that have an impact on the social epidemics is salesmen. They are charismatic people with powerful negotiation skill. He refers to the businessman Tom Gau and how his traits help him to be a salesman and start a social epidemic of word-of-mouth. There are many interesting facts brought up by Gladwell that allow readers to think about as to who has an impact on the word-of-mouth epidemic. As he states closer to the end of the chapter, “Mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue: they spread it. Salesmen have the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced.” (70)

A game of Wits

As you find out while reading the book, Nelson Mandela is a very nice and outgoing man. While in prison he be-friends a lot of the guards, one guard is into the game of rugby, so Nelson starts reading about teams, scores and watching it on TV. Then when Mandela gets the chance he starts chatting and became Major van Sittert's friend and with that he could ask for things that weren't around when he went into prison, such as a TV, a microwave and extra food for dinner.
Many people said that Nelson had a commanding kind of presence and personality; He knew how to handle power without humiliating his enemies.

Upington 26

In Chapter 3, you learn about a group of people called the Upington 26. The Upington 26 were 26 people that were charged with the murder of one police man. The law of common purpose as it was called, allowed for the prosecution not only of the person or persons directly responsible for a crime, but also of all those who might have shared in the desire to commit it. In this case the police could have rounded up 3, 4, or 15, people but they opted for 26. In the case of the Upington 26 they would face the same sentence Mandela had prepared for when he stood 21 years earlier: death my hanging.
I just found this very interesting while in a civilized society that 26 people can be charged for the murder of one man because they thought about doing it or even just because the police felt like charging them that day.
So wrong!

Invictus

I am almost finished reading Invictus by John Carlin. This book is what the movie by the same name was made after is starred Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar. The book is about how one man, and a game that made a nation. The man was President of South Africa Nelson Mandela and the game was rugby.

Thought is the Seed of Action

“On weekends when his high school pals were attending “keggers” and trying to sneak into Georgetown bars, McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting ways they might improve their lives.”

I was overwhelmed with tears after reading this. It is so inspirational to hear that a young man not only opened his wallet but his heart for another without wanting anything in return. Originally, I had planned on helping others once I graduated and had a comfortable income, but after reading this I was in a sense appalled with my selfishness. Today, I have a roof over my head, an education, food, and security, so why am I waiting to take action another day?

How we think about numbers

In the introductory chapter of his book, Bellos talks about how numbers are conceived in our minds and whether or not math is a cultural or intrinsic skill. By studying a remote tribe in the amazon, he concluded that we naturally think about numbers logarithmically not linearly. Here's an example. Members of this tribe that could only count to 5 were shown dots on a screen from one dot to 10. They were then asked to place them on the line where they saw fit. if someone from western civilization were asked to do this they would more than likely space the dots evenly along the line because this is the way we've been taught through rulers, tape measurers etc. Members of this trube though were much more inclined to put half as much space between 3 and s as they did between 2 and 1. Similarly between 4 and 3 was half as long as between 3 and 2. He concludes from this that we innately think about numbers as ratios. 2 dots is twice as big as one dot, but 3 dots is 1.5 times bigger than 2.

Dozenal Vs. Decimal

In his book, "Here's looking at Euclid" one of the most interesting things that Alex Bellos talks about is different number bases and how our base 10 is not always the most efficeient or the most useful. He goes into great detail about base 12 which is called the dozenal system in relation to our decimal system. Bellos explained that the decimal system intrinsically makes sense to us because of our ten fingers which are our primary counting tools from an early age. This does not necessarily a great overall reason to use base 10 especially when there are other factors that make base 12 much more useful. having 12 different units instead of 10 is useful because 12 is more divisible than 10 is. There are more ways to evenly divide 120 than there are 100. This means that you can do more ratios and division with complete precision. I just thought that it was interesting that our entire system of counting could be an inferior one.

The Value Of Persistence

"Persistence is an essential factor in the procedure of transmuting desire into its monetary equivalent. The basis of persistence is the power of will."

Hill refers to persistence as a "[A] sustained effort..." that is necessary to achieve goals. Upon reading this chapter one thing stuck in my mind and it is that you must be willing to persist and persevere despite any setbacks or hurdles in order to attain your goal, otherwise you will never achieve them. I thought about how this applied to anyone's life and came to the realization that "Without persistence, you [are] defeated, even before you start.".

You May Say That I'm Dreamer, But I'm Not the Only One

“Everett was strange,” Sleight concedes. “Kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.”

I think the main reason why I admire and am so drawn to this story is because McCandless followed his dream. I believe that the majority of society procrastinates their dreams, thinking that they will fulfill their desires later on. What we don’t realize is that life is so delicate and can come to an end at any moment; so why risk postponing it for another day?

Gandhi, An Autobiography

“We knew the fundamental differences between us. Any amount of discussion could not efface them. Yet even differences prove helpful, where there are tolerance, charity and truth. I liked Mr. and Mrs. Walton’s humility, perseverance and devotion to work, and we met very frequently.” (page 159)

Gandhi knew that the most important part of any religion was and yet is ‘self-realization’. Having been put in light towards his religion in South Africa, Gandhi thanked the Christians who ‘whetted’ his appetite for knowledge. He came across Mr. and Mrs. Walton who were different and who him feel like a member of his family.

I thought this was another important quote in the book as I agree to Gandhi’s crucial point of acceptance for other people’s culture, traditions and identity. The line, “we knew the fundamental differences” became a highlight for me as it relates very well to me as I was told to know other people’s differences in religion which is very crucial to respect at all times. The quote I thought implied that in order for Gandhi’s movement to be successful in India, he must have opened up to acknowledge and accept other interpretations. It further meant that in doing so there could have been potential peace relations amongst different communities in India for Gandhi.

Imagination - The workshop of the mind

"The imagination is literally the workshop wherein are fashioned all plans created by man. The impulse, the desire, is given shape, form, and action through the aid of the imaginative faculty of the mind."

I believe that a key factor to success in life is the ability to develop and use the imagination; which is why I found this chapter more interesting than others. Hill believes that desire, while very important, is only "... a thought, [or] an impulse." so the desire must be "...transformed into its physical counterpart." - the imagination. Imagination brings ideas and with these ideas comes the beginnings of all fortunes; ideas spark impulsive thought and action which is a product of the imagination.

"Ideas are intangible forces, but they have no more power than the physical brains that give birth to them. They have the power to live on, after the brain that creates them has returned to dust."

Desire

"Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe it can achieve."

Napolean Hill's belief of desire is that it is "The starting point of all achievement." and upon reading this chapter I strongly believe this as well. Wishing and hoping to be rich will not make you rich but rather having a desire to acquire your goals is what will bring you to accomplish these goals. Hill also professes that to accomplish this desire one will need a "definiteness of purpose.", and to me this means in order to harness the power of desire, you must first know exactly what you want. Reading this chapter made me realize that having a desire for something makes anything possible, and that desire will never accept failure as an option. Desire is "...the starting point from which a dreamer must take off.".

A Valuable Skill

“All of a sudden the things that the old-line law firms didn’t want to do – hostile takeovers and litigation – were the things that every law firm wanted to do. And who was the expert in these two suddenly critical areas of law? The once marginal, second-tier law firms started by the people who couldn’t get the job at the downtown firms ten and fifteen years earlier.”

The world is constantly changing, and those who are the most prepared are going to be the same people who are successful when it happens. In this case, all the lawyers who weren’t good enough for the big law firms, started their own law firms and worked on things the others didn’t want to do. When the business industry changed course, the law firms who were handling the unwanted leftovers from before, automatically were ahead of the game. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure - In this case, that junk that the first man did not want, happened to be a gold mine when the opportunity to use it became valuable. The lawyers that had been working at the law firm for years had actually been perfecting a skill that would create future opportunity for them, and they weren’t even aware that it would one day be valuable – no one was. The theory that opportunity at a specific time, to hard working people (who are not looking for it), seems to be reoccurring throughout the book. We see it in computer programmers such as Bill Gates and Bill Joy; both of them went into an obscure field without any major success in mind.

The Strong Will Continue.

“Parrado said, ‘look there to the west. Don’t you see? To the left? Two mountains without any snow?’ Canessa said, ‘but they’re miles away. It’ll take us fifty days to get to them.’”

This quote stuck out to me because I liked the fact that even though the survivors of the plane crash were sick and tired those who were able to climb the mountains did so. It is highly important that the strong people in the group took the initiative to do as much as they were able to. This is important because without strong group leaders to ration the food and seek help they all would have ended up dying or resulting in ‘every man for themselves’.

I found it ironic that those mountains are known as being impossible to climb however due to their circumstanses they were able to overcome their circumstances and acheive the impossible.

Gandhi, An Autobiography

“But Abdulla Sheth disapproved of the idea. He said, ‘If you do anything of the kind, it will have a very bad effect. You will compromise those insisting on wearing Indian turbans. And an Indian turban sits well on your head. If you wear an English hat, you will pass for a waiter.’” (page 108)

I found this quote in the book to represent one’s identity in a society. Gandhi had gained a London Matriculation in England, the highest degree for a lawyer and moved back to India, where he found that he has little knowledge to the rules there and to what he studied. He therefore moved to South Africa where his education would have been put to a better use.

At first Gandhi faced the trouble of dealing with meat or liquor that British people were spoken for and his solemn pledge to his mother before departure kept him strong and away from such during his education years. When in South Africa, ‘wearing the turban has a great importance in this state of things’ shows the discrimination that existed for a foreigner who had travelled abroad. Gandhi had learnt a lesson from his friend who had corrected him to keep his turban or else he would have shown that the other were superior and Gandhi wearing their ‘hat’ would make him equivalent to a waiter.

I really like this quote as many individuals loose their physical identity when in a new and odd environment. For Abdulla, he believed that it was an insult to loose something you possess and represent in turn for someone else’s desire.

Gandhi, An Autobiography

“Well, it was done, and the debt cleared. But this became more than I could bear. I resolved never to steal again. I also made up my mind to confess it to my father. But I did not dare to speak. Not that I was afraid of my father beating me. No. I do not recall his ever having beaten any of us. I was afraid of the pain that I should cause him. But I felt that the risk should be taken; that there could not be a cleansing without a clean confession.” (page 27)

After an attempt of suicide being unsuccessful, Gandhi saw the only way to cleanse himself of stealing the servant’s pocket money in order to get the independence was by telling his father of his wrong doings. As described earlier in the book, Gandhi belonged to a family that had no interest to accumulate wealth and was strict to their rites and rituals; hence the magnitude of his act was hard for him to succumb in front of his father. Gandhi knew he had put himself in a situation where justifying himself was impossible as he admitted that no pleasure or advantage was gained in smoking with his friend.

What makes the paragraph more interesting was to read that he could not recall his father beating any of them, implying that he had put a lot of trust being the son of a respectable man in public. Gandhi says that he wasn’t scared of getting beaten up but for breaking a trust that had never happened before. He felt that his father would be ashamed of him or that he would never think of him in a same way as he did before nevertheless he needed it in order to cleanse his sins.

I thought this quote was important as it relates to the theme of ‘trust’ in Hamlet as we read it in class at school. In addition, I can understand Gandhi’s feeling when he says this because being in a similar age to when he experimented his smoking, my parents would be hurt that I have begun a bad habit and without them noticing.

Humans, The Last Resort

“Carlitos said to Fito. He said ‘if we weren’t rescued, he’d eat one of the pilots to get out of here.’ There was a pause; then Carlitos added, ‘that hit on the head must have made him slightly mad.’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Fito, his honest, serious features quite composed. ‘It might be the only way to survive.’”

“For some days several of the boys had realized that if they were to survive they would have to eat the bodies of those who had died in the crash. It was a ghastly prospect. The corpses lay around the plane in the snow, preserved by the intense cold in the state which they had died. Canessa did not argue just from expediency. He insisted that they had a moral duty to stay alive by any means at their disposal, and because Canessa was earnest about his religious belief, great weight was given to what he said by the more pious among the survivors. He said ‘it is meat that is all it is. The souls have left their bodies and are in heaven with god.’”

“God wanted them to live, and he gave them the means to do so in the dead bodies of their friends.”

At this point the survivors are trying to climb the mountain to get to the other side where the tail of the plane is located. They are trying to get to the tail of the plane because they know it contains a battery which may be able to power the radio. In order to climb the mountain they need energy which they aren’t getting from eating chocolate and one shot of wine. The survivors have realized they need meat to survive on the mountains. Since they are all extremely religious I would not expect them to defy their morals. However as shown in the quote above, Canessa (the most religious) states that its only meat and the souls have left their bodies. He tries to make it acceptable to eat a human corpse claiming god wanted them to live by eating their friends.

I found this ironic because at first the survivors of the crash were joking about eating the pilots but now they are actually considering eating the preserved corpses. I feel that this is their last resort of survival and survival is more important than ones morals at this point in time…