"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject. For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you. Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan, Amazon.com

《新闻的历史（第三版）》是一部以全球眼光讲述的新闻史。作者采用了独特的人类学视角，将新闻的历史向上追溯至史前时期，向下贯通至当今信息爆炸时代。 《新闻的历史》最初于1988年出版，一经面世便受到好评，被《纽约时报》评为“年度图书”（notable book of 1988）。第二版出版于1996年，获得更大反响，被译成葡萄牙文、荷兰文、中文、日本等各种版本。2007年，斯蒂芬斯又出版了该书的第三版。新版不仅扩充了电视新闻部分的内容，还增写了全新的一章，专门阐述互联网和数字革命。 作者视野广阔，古今中外各种史料信手拈来，读者读来颇有酣畅淋漓之感；文笔生动有趣，字里行间不乏狡黠机智的评论，随时令人眼前一亮。

本书的目的在于介绍研究媒介和大众传播过程的主要方法。全书具体论述了传播过程研究中三个主要领域——媒介组织和节目制作、媒介的内容、媒介的使用和受众——所使用的研究方法。全书最后部分介绍了SPSS数据分析方法以及传播学研究的原始资料和资源的搜集方法。 全书每一章节介绍一种研究方法。从社会学研究方法的一般规律出发，对该研究方法的发展过程、应用范围、应用步骤等都做了详细的说明，对计算机统计系统SPSS的使用也做了详细的讲解。例证丰富，资料翔实，由浅入深，适用范围广，应用性强。 全书每一章都首先从历史发展的角度和理论层面提出单个的研究方法，然后详细论述其实际应用和操作方法，体系清晰，思路明确。研究方法的实际应用是贯穿本书始末的论述重点。 本书不但比较全面地介绍了进行传播学研究所采用的各种方法，而且更注重在一个更宏观的角度上分析说明每种方法的适用原则及其内部相关性，强调应具体问题具体分析，并灵活综合运用各种方法研究同一问题。 传播学研究方法以社会学研究方法为基础，但本书特色在于牢牢植根于传播学的特点和发展，所有方法介绍及例证说明都紧紧围绕传播学的特色。

本书清晰而详细地介绍了与传媒有关的主要经济学概念，并以非经济专业人士的需求为基点，深入浅出地解释了与传媒经济学研究相关的基本概念；探讨了当今传媒产业所面临的主要问题；联系经济理论与商业实践，论述了各种传媒行业——广告、电视、电影、印刷媒体和新媒体；审视了经济学对公共政策的影响。

这部学术著作以辞典形式，将传播与文化领域的所有重要概念、范畴、理论、观点、问题及研究等等汇集起来，然后加以凝练的论述与有机的链接，构建了一套立体的、交叉的、开放的理论体系。 约翰·费斯克，知名的传播与文化研究学者，美国威斯康辛大学麦迪逊校区传播艺术系教授。除参与本书编撰外，其主要著作还有1987年出版的《解读电视》，1982年出版的《解读电视》，1982年出版的《传播研究引论》，1987年?