Importance of Little Events

According to Gladwell, little events determine much of what happens in life, even though the big events receive most of one's attention. Furthermore, the major events that gain attention actually occur because of some little event that sparked, or tipped, them into occurrence.

The first example given in the book discusses the rise in popularity of Hush Puppies brand shoes, which came not from a large marketing scheme, but because of a select group of youth in New York City that bought the used shoes in a thrift store. In this way, Gladwell traces tipping trends not back to the point that they tipped, thus giving credit to that major occurrence. Instead, he traces that major occurrence even farther back, to discover just what smaller event brought about the major change that caught the public's attention.

The fall of crime in New York City also...