"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

《台湾流行音乐200:最佳专辑(1975-2005)》内容简介：我的母亲陶晓清是资深广播人，打从1970年代便是美国权威音乐杂志《滚石》（Rolling Stone）的订户。父母卧室的床头和地上，常常摊着他们读到一半的书。父亲那边是杂文、小说、古籍；母亲这边，枕头底下便经常压着一本《滚石》。我自己是到上了中学，认真听起摇滚乐，才慢慢感觉《滚石》的厉害。尽管以我当时的英文程度和音乐知识，大多文章只能半读半猜，却也很长了不少见识。 1987年，信箱收到一本特别厚的《滚石》特刊：他们广邀各方乐评，选出1967年以来最伟大的一百张专辑，作为创刊二十周年特别企划。当年自然没有网络这种东西，此类资讯极为珍罕，消息传播也远不如现在迅速，这份“百碟榜”的效应，竟持续了好几年：若干台湾杂志曾经抄列这份榜单，唱片行也常把它张贴在店头，作为顾客采购指南。一时之间，自诩精进的乐迷人手一份，人人都在盘点自己听过几张，仿佛那是一份“摇滚学力测验”的考卷。

马尔科姆·格拉德威尔以社会上突如其来的流行风潮研究为切入点，从一个全新的角度探索了控制科学和营销模式。他认为，思想、行为、信息以及产品常常会像传染病爆发一样，迅速传播蔓延。正如一个病人就能引起一场全城流感；如果个别工作人员对顾客大打出手，或几位涂鸦爱好者管不住自己，也能在地铁里掀起一场犯罪浪潮；一位满意而归的顾客还能让新开张的餐馆座无虚席。这些现象均属“社会流行潮”，它爆发的那一刻，即达到临界水平的那一刻，就是一个引爆点。 格拉德威尔走访了宗教团体、成功的高科技公司以及全球最优秀的推销员，他在书中分析了几种有利于开创流行风潮的性格特征，剖析了种种极具感染力的事件，如各种风尚、吸烟现象、儿童电视、商业邮寄广告等，并阐明其背后的导火索。通过大量深具说明力的研究，揭示出发起流行潮并保持其势头的原则和方法。