Book Recommendation
I was doing some research last week on the Dunbar Number for an article on church size that I’m writing and ran across the book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (New York: Little, Brown and Company Back Bay Books, 2000 - ISBN: 0-316-34662-4). The book is a wonderful combination of informative, fun, intriguing, and exciting.
It’s about the concept of epidemics. Epidemics in this sense can be positive or negative, physical or sociological, etc. Gladwell explains some very technical sociological concept in amazingly simple terms. The book is essentially a compelling explanation of the three “laws” of epidemics (the law of the few, the law of stickiness, and the law of context). Perhaps even more importantly than the three laws, he introduces us to three types of people (connectors, mavens, and salesmen) who are often key in causing epidemics.
Epidemic theory may very give some powerful insight into how the church does church. Why do some ministries take off and others flop? Why do some people seem to always be in the center of things? Why do some ideas (great ones and, occasionally, awful ones) seem to immediately take hold and others not? Certainly there are sometimes spiritual answers to these questions but other times that’s obviously not the case. In those “other” times, the answer may well be what Gladwell calls the “tipping point.” That point where something “tips” from obscure to popular… from minor to major… from barely noticeable to highly influential.
His theory suggests that these epidemics can be unexpected, but that they can also be planned. He examines Hush Puppy shoes, Sesame Street, cheating, crime… the list is extensive - all in a way that’s both exciting and fun to read.
Check it out - You’ll be glad you did.
Grace and Peace,
`tim
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
