Introduction Chapter 1 summary

The introduction tells you that The Tipping Point is a biography of an idea. It shows the best way to understand why fashion trends, the flow of crime or almost anything emerge. There are three characteristics of this, contagiousness, the fact that little things can have big effects and that change can happen at one dramatic moment. The first chapter talks about the emergence of the STD syphilis. The first reason Malcolm gives is because of the problem with crack cocaine. Because this drug causes risky behavior is sexual behavior it can lead to the spread of STDs. He then begins to talk about social epidemics and says that those are driven by the efforts of only a handful of people. He also then goes on to talk about the "tipping point". Epidemics tip because of the efforts of a few carriers. This is seen in epidemics such as the flu. He finishes up with the three rules of the Tipping Point, the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. These three rules give us a way to make sense of epidemics.