a lively, timely and engaging study....the tipping point is worth reading just for what it tells us about how we try to make sense out of the world. malcolm gladwell has been a staff writer with the new yorker magazine since 1996. his 1999 profile of ron popeil won a national magazine award, and in 2005 he was named one of time magazine's 100 most influential people. he is the author of the tipping point: how little things make a big difference, (2000) and blink: the power of thinking without thinking (2005), both of which were number one new york times bestsellers.