What can make a social contagion move from little-to-no-impact to a phenomenon? Is it possible to figure it out? Malcom Gladwell believes it is and his theory is that these social phenomena have an "overstory." In his view, an "overstory" is a set of specific, maybe not even related circumstances, the result of which is a consequence sometimes much bigger (and more devastating) than the sum of its parts.
I never read the original Tipping Point, so I don't know how this compares. What I will say, is that this audiobook reads like a podcast, fairly fast paced, with a lot of interviews and soundbites. He bounces around a little bit, he repeats himself often, but overall, this actually gave me a lot to think about. I love picking apart our society like this, making sense of why things happen and why people do what they do. I don't know if he's "right" about every single conclusion he makes, but he makes interesting points and took me in directions I hadn't anticipated.
If you enjoy sociological stories, this would probably be worth your time.
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