Friends of the Library book review No. 1

Members of the Friends are helping us through the cold, dark, stormy winter (well, not today . . .) with reviews of books perfect for cozying up to the fireplace. Here’s the first, published in last week’s paper, written by Andrew Gruse:

 ”The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell

How a does a little effort bring about big changes? What caused the Ocean Shores city government to get radically changed? How did the entire Weatherwax get saved? This book is almost a textbook on how things like this happen.

Remember the straw that broke the camel’s back. That is a tipping point. The tipping point is where a small difference has a huge effect. A little bit of effort or at least a feasible amount of effort goes a long way.

Author Gladwell explains that to create a tipping point you have to create the characteristics of an epidemic. A thing has to be widely disseminated. It has to stick to each recipient. It has to sustain itself in the environment that nurses it. Things are not spread by large numbers of people randomly interacting. They are spread by few people: a connector who comes into contact with many other people, a maven who takes the thing and translates it into something relevantly simple plus a salesman who gets a recipient to take in that simple bit of information. One or many persons can serve multiple or all three roles.

Gladwell gives an example of the “Broken Windows” theory of crime: crime is the result of disorder. A window is broken and left unrepaired, passerbys will decide nobody cares and nobody is in charge. More windows get broken, and anarchy gradually ensues. These city employees in the following scenarios created tipping points.

In New York City the subway director David Gunn, against the recommendations of others, focused on systematically eliminating graffiti from the subway cars and keeping them clean. The new trains stayed clean! His successor, William Bratton took the next step, and focused on fare beating. These seem like ridiculously minor infractions to focus upon, especially in view of the large numbers of felonies being committed on the subways at the time.

Bratton, starting with the stations with the biggest number of fare beaters, made a big show of arresting people for not paying their fare, but the payoff was how that sweep turned into an easy way to rid the system of people who had outstanding warrants, were carrying dangerous weapons, etc. Crime dropped dramatically.

Recognize that this was not a zero tolerance action per-se. There were insufficient resources to put policemen everywhere. It was the same resources re-deployed in a non-intuitive way that had the effect of changing the context so the crime epidemic was starved.

This is a well written book that will get you to think about things from maybe a new perspective. The Ocean Shores Library employees who are always cheerful and helpful will assist you in borrowing this book but there may be a waiting list.
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Andrew Gruse for the OSFOL. The Ocean Shores Friends of the Library meets every 2nd Monday at 2 PM. All are welcome.