Fifty pages into the book and Malcom Gladwell had already become my favorite contemporary writer. His faultless writing style is always engaging, and the his constant examples sustain his arguments well. I aspire to convey myself in such a magnetic and immaculate fashion. The book on the other hand was not without its flaws.
On the whole, what I drew from the book was entertainment more than anything else. The Tipping Point is about the different elements and people that contribute to social epidemics. Gladwell paints a picture over nearly 400 pages that inevitably lures you in. Fashion trends, television shows, and viral pandemics are all subject to similar factors which cause them to be "tipped."
Three hundred and fifty pages into the book and I was still enjoying myself but was less convinced than I had been at two hundred pages in. This work is divided into chapters that use case studies to validate Gladwell's claims that the Law of the Few, Stickiness Factor, and Powers of Context govern the "tipping" of social epidemics.
As I continued to read, I felt more and more that the book and its examples were a bit too convenient. In the Law of the Few, Gladwell imparts that there are three special persons who contribute greatly to tip the circumstances: the Connector, Maven, and Salesman. I won't go into the details, but as I read I found myself wondering, "Do I fit under any of these labels?...Do any of us fit under these labels?" Malcom Gladwell went out and found the quintissential people who worked well in his theory and spoke about them at great length. I understand that these people can exist, and that they naturally play a large social role. However, what is there to gain from this book if I'm not a Salesman or I don't know any Connectors?
It isn't until the seven page long conclusion that Gladwell finally makes his point: anybody has the power to take on the above roles and tilt the scales. They just need to keep in mind the Power of Context and Stickiness Factor. Both of which I found fairly convincing. I doubt that I will apply his Rule of 150 which states that humans are the most socially efficient in groups of 150 or less; however, all the lessons from the book are valuable and backed up by credible examples. The original conclusion tails off leaving the reader confused about the purpose of the book. The 2002 edition includes an afterword that contains examples which should have been in the original conclusion and also adequately wraps up the book's objective and motivates the reader to apply The Tipping Point to his own life.
Overall, The Tipping Point is a great read purely for its convenient yet exceedingly educational case studies. I learned how they cleaned up the New York subway system by cleaning up the graffiti. I learned why I loved Sesame Street as a child and why my friends with cable loved Blue's Clues even more. I highly recommend Gladwell's 2000 book to anyone if for nothing other than pure entertainment and lovely morsels of eclectic knowledge.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Prosecco Review
I took my wife to trendy Italian spot, Prosecco, for her birthday. The plan was to have a late light dinner, but I'm not sure how I thought that Italian comfort food would be light. In any case, when we walked in for our 9:00 PM reservation, it was immediately clear how trendy Prosecco was. It was filled with a foodie crowd; and even with our late reservation, it took over half an hour to be seated. By that time we were desperately hoping to be blown away by the food.
The first thing you notice about Prosecco is how impeccably Italian it is. You're not served family size portions, but the place is bustling and gourmet Italian food is prepared by real Italians and served by real Italians. Typically when we order, I relay both our choices to our server; however, in this instance, I was cut off right after I ordered my dish when my server immediately turned to my wife. Apparently, he had been put off that I had not allowed her to order first...if he had waited a moment he would have realized how we work. I rectified this by placing my wife's order first for dessert.
We began the meal with drinks at the bar, and bread was served as soon as we were seated. The bread came with an unidentifiable savory sauce with a bit of tang and a enjoyable freshness from celery elements. It was both unique and remarkably enjoyable. The two types of bread were both certainly good enough to keep me busy until our appetizer arrived. Of course, by this time we were starving, and I was having difficulty keeping myself from dipping further into the bread basket.
It was a little while before our Bufala Mozarella antipasti arrived. By this time, we had been unimpressed by the wait and hoped to be amazed by the appetizer everyone seemed to be having. The fresh mozarella was served atop heirloom tomatoes with bits of what they called balsamic viniagrette caviar. The best way to describe this dish is to tell you what I told my wife: "This is some good cheese." The viniagrette caviar is simply gelatinous balls of viniagrette which add a nice sweet finish to the freshness of the overall dish. The antipasti was probably my favorite part of the meal. I want some now.
My second favorite part of the meal was probably the wines. While awaiting our cocktails we were served the house prosecco. This clean bubbly started sweet and finished neat. My rosso was a well rounded syrah that wasn't dry or fruity and complex enough to be everything in between. I will be emailing the restaurant to track down both of these. On the other hand, when I ordered my wife a Bellini, we were told the bar had ran out of peach nectar, and she ended up with a pedestrian mimosa instead.
Our main course led to further disappointment when I was told that I couldn't have my risotto because they ran out of rice... How was that even possible? The Orecchiette Tartufette I went with instead turned out to be a great decision. Pasta in black truffle cream and white truffle oil is about as decadent as it sounds. Bits of fresh asparagus and sundried tomato were a nice touch. I thought it was really good, but my wife went as far as to say that she would return to Prosecco just for this dish. Needless to say, I let her have most of it.
Her dish in comparison, the Cavatelli con Gamberi e Zafferano, was simply too light. The riccota dumplings and shrimp were prepared well, but we were both underwhelmed by the saffron broth. This dish certainly fell short of our expectations. Both dishes however have firmly ingrained in me the opinion that all pastas should have some form of asparagus involved.
From carbs to more carbs, we ordered a hazelnut semifreddo and ricotta mascarpone cheesecake for dessert. Alas, no semifreddo. That's right, a third dish that was unavailable. The torta ricotta was again as extraordinarily fresh as the rest of our dishes. A touch of lemon helped the combination of cheeses keep it light. This almost fluffy cheesecake mirrored our overall experience at Prosecco: really good but hardly life altering.
The overall freshness and comfort feel of Prosecco will have us giving them another chance. Our server was very gracious about all the shortcomings and did provide us with a complimentary dessert wine; although, for all our troubles, I expected a little bit more. In the end, no bellini, no rice, and no semifreddo is pretty tough to swallow. Prosecco is probably much better than it was to us, and what we had was just good enough to warrant another chance. Eventually.
The first thing you notice about Prosecco is how impeccably Italian it is. You're not served family size portions, but the place is bustling and gourmet Italian food is prepared by real Italians and served by real Italians. Typically when we order, I relay both our choices to our server; however, in this instance, I was cut off right after I ordered my dish when my server immediately turned to my wife. Apparently, he had been put off that I had not allowed her to order first...if he had waited a moment he would have realized how we work. I rectified this by placing my wife's order first for dessert.
We began the meal with drinks at the bar, and bread was served as soon as we were seated. The bread came with an unidentifiable savory sauce with a bit of tang and a enjoyable freshness from celery elements. It was both unique and remarkably enjoyable. The two types of bread were both certainly good enough to keep me busy until our appetizer arrived. Of course, by this time we were starving, and I was having difficulty keeping myself from dipping further into the bread basket.
It was a little while before our Bufala Mozarella antipasti arrived. By this time, we had been unimpressed by the wait and hoped to be amazed by the appetizer everyone seemed to be having. The fresh mozarella was served atop heirloom tomatoes with bits of what they called balsamic viniagrette caviar. The best way to describe this dish is to tell you what I told my wife: "This is some good cheese." The viniagrette caviar is simply gelatinous balls of viniagrette which add a nice sweet finish to the freshness of the overall dish. The antipasti was probably my favorite part of the meal. I want some now.
My second favorite part of the meal was probably the wines. While awaiting our cocktails we were served the house prosecco. This clean bubbly started sweet and finished neat. My rosso was a well rounded syrah that wasn't dry or fruity and complex enough to be everything in between. I will be emailing the restaurant to track down both of these. On the other hand, when I ordered my wife a Bellini, we were told the bar had ran out of peach nectar, and she ended up with a pedestrian mimosa instead.
Our main course led to further disappointment when I was told that I couldn't have my risotto because they ran out of rice... How was that even possible? The Orecchiette Tartufette I went with instead turned out to be a great decision. Pasta in black truffle cream and white truffle oil is about as decadent as it sounds. Bits of fresh asparagus and sundried tomato were a nice touch. I thought it was really good, but my wife went as far as to say that she would return to Prosecco just for this dish. Needless to say, I let her have most of it.
Her dish in comparison, the Cavatelli con Gamberi e Zafferano, was simply too light. The riccota dumplings and shrimp were prepared well, but we were both underwhelmed by the saffron broth. This dish certainly fell short of our expectations. Both dishes however have firmly ingrained in me the opinion that all pastas should have some form of asparagus involved.
From carbs to more carbs, we ordered a hazelnut semifreddo and ricotta mascarpone cheesecake for dessert. Alas, no semifreddo. That's right, a third dish that was unavailable. The torta ricotta was again as extraordinarily fresh as the rest of our dishes. A touch of lemon helped the combination of cheeses keep it light. This almost fluffy cheesecake mirrored our overall experience at Prosecco: really good but hardly life altering.
The overall freshness and comfort feel of Prosecco will have us giving them another chance. Our server was very gracious about all the shortcomings and did provide us with a complimentary dessert wine; although, for all our troubles, I expected a little bit more. In the end, no bellini, no rice, and no semifreddo is pretty tough to swallow. Prosecco is probably much better than it was to us, and what we had was just good enough to warrant another chance. Eventually.
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