The Ripping (off) Point: an unfinished story
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell seeks to analyze those minimal aspects that make society go from one equilibrium to another one. Some examples are the creation of fashion trends, or a sudden decrease in crime rates. He compares these changes with epidemics (I think he calls them social epidemics at some point, from what I can recall).
As a dismal scientist, the idea of unstable equilibria came to my mind. More precisely, how a very small exogenous shock could make a long run equilibrium unstable and make us go to another long run equilibrium. An example of this is how excited I was about this book and how fast I was reading it, but it only took a few minutes for some bastard to steal it (this morning) and I have been forced to switch to a non-reading equilibrium (at least temporarily).
Any readers out there recommend that I buy the book again? I'm just asking because I've already been through the experience of books that are really good at the beginning but then turn out to be a complete disaster: the most extreme example of this is The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch (simply throw the book away once you finish the second or third chapter).
posted by bcj @ 10:08 AM
12 comments
12 Comments:
How did the bastard do it?
I went to have my car serviced and I left for a few minutes to buy something at the store next to the car dealership. When I came back the book had disappeared from the lounge. Aparently another customer took it.
I've always known that car dealerships are places where customers get ripped off. I just didn't expect that someone else other than a salesman would rip me off at a dealership.
You should buy another copy so I can borrow it.
After all, doen't my happiness enter into your utility function?
Yes it does but it is multiplied by a very small scalar, and note that I am not talking about absolute values here, so the scalar can potentially be negative.
(I just ordered the book from Amazon, but just because it was really cheap)
In the meantime you can borrow the pile of books I have on Astronomy and Astrophysics, but that you have rejected in the past.
I wonder what the thief will do with the book. If she simply turns around and sells, then that would lame. But if the thief reads the book, and it sets of a Tipping Point in her life, that would be interesting. If you could somehow figure out about this individuals change, then the experience may even compensate for the cost of the book.
However, in my expertise I ascribe a non-zero though near zero probability to this occurance. As such I do not recommend you get your hopes up.
Oh, and I stopped reading the book about halfway through...
Jeff, on one hand your comment makes me feel better because I hand't considered the possibility that the book could change the thief's life (in a good way). I also ascribe a low probability to this event, but it makes me feel better anyway.
On the other hand, knowing that you didn't finish the book does not speak well of it. My expected value from reading it has been severely reduced and now I wonder if it will be worth my time once it arrives.
I am only on page one hundred, but it seems interesting. the guy obviously didn't talk to way too many sociologists in writing the book, but I will probably finish it.
I read Blink all the way through. I was reading a dled version of the Tipping Point in Adobe and so I couldn't cuddle up with it. This is probably why I didn't finish it.
I bought Blink and read it voraciously.
Oh yeah, I read Blink a while ago and enjoyed it a lot too. I even bought a course to recognize facial expressions, but got ripped off by Paul Ekman group (ordered the CD in May and still waiting for it).
Check out this site. I'm still crying.
http://dogbonesbackyard.blogspot.com/2006/07/i-am-moving-to-japan.html
Post a Comment
<< Home