The Tipping Point

You may have noticed, eager reader, than on yesterday's entry I alluded to my valentine gift from my wife - a book I've wanted for ages. I thought that, perhaps, I might be overwhelmed with comments and enquiries as to what that book is. I haven't been. So, erm...thanks.

But I'm going to tell you anyway. It's The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I read his more recent book Blink a few months ago, and liked it enormously. It's really a book about how your instincts react in certain situations. It's full of fascinating examples and stories. I really enjoyed it.

I was, therefore, keen to investigate his previous book, The Tipping Point, in the hope that it would light my fire in the same way. It's a book about social epidemics - about how and why certain things that one minute no-one has ever heard of, all of a sudden are absolutely everywhere. How small changes can make a difference. I'm also enjoying this one, but am not far enough through it to offer a comprehensive review yet. But I'm sure I will. I know you can't wait.

The main reason I wanted to mention this today was an incredible, yet I'm sure quite true, fact that Gladwell uses to illustrate how small things make a big difference. Imagine you had a large piece of paper that you folded in half. Then folded in half again. And again. And you keep going until you have folded it in on itself fifty times. How high do you think the "stack" would end up being.

A few centimetres? A metre? Longer?

In actual fact, it would stretch from here to the sun. And if you folded it once more, it would reach from here to the sun, and back again.

Amazing, eh? You'd never think it would you? It's because the thickness of the paper rises exponentially. Isn't it interesting how our minds trick us?

So, I thought you'd find that interesting. By the way, don't actually try and fold a piece of paper that many times. You won't be able to. No matter how big the piece of paper is, you'll find it's impossible. The question here is entirely hypothetical.

I bet you'll try though.