Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, the podcast that brings the world’s most thought-provoking books into your weekend. This is the Weekend Book Review, and today, we’re diving into a long-awaited release from a true master of social science storytelling: Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering.
Twenty-five years ago, Gladwell shook the literary world with The Tipping Point, a book that forever changed how we think about ideas, trends, and social phenomena. Now, he’s back, but this time, he’s peeling back the curtain on the darker side of tipping points—the way they can spiral out of control, driven by superspreaders, fueled by hidden agendas, and weaponized by society's most powerful forces. In Revenge of the Tipping Point, Gladwell invites us to question what really lies behind the rise of social engineering, giving us unforgettable stories, from Los Angeles’s most successful bank robbers to the “Magic Third” concept shaping racial harmony.
With Gladwell’s unmistakable voice, a cat named Biggie Smalls by his side, and the unique lens he’s honed over decades—writing bestsellers like Outliers and Talking to Strangers and co-founding the audio powerhouse Pushkin Industries—he’s created his most personal and controversial book yet. Are we ready to confront the hidden forces behind today’s tipping points?
Thank you, Malcolm Gladwell, and Little, Brown and Company, for this compelling journey into the contagions of the modern world. Don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, and check out our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher, now also on Amazon Prime Music and Apple Podcast.
Reference
Gladwell, M. (2024). Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering. New York: Little, Brown and Company. https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780316575805
Youtube channel link
https://www.youtube.com/@weekendresearcher
