Chapter 2, Reflective Writing

Gladwell starts off this chapter with the story of Paul Revere. Revere's ride throughout the towns is probably the most famous example of a word by mouth epidemic. He aided the small militias with the valuable information, and they were able to prepare and do battle, and be successful with the start of the American Revolution. The interesting twist on this account of the story of Paul Revere is the fact that another man by the name of William Dawes, made a similar ride as Revere, but not much was done about it. What made Revere's ride so successful? Why didn't Dawes have this success? Did the people simply not want to listen to Dawes? The chapter goes on to talk about the six degrees of separation. A study was done where 160 random people were picked from Omaha, Nebraska. They were given a package and a name of a stockbroker who lived in Sharon, Massachusetts. The goal was to get the package to the stockbroker as fast as possible with the least amount of steps. The package made it to his door with a winning record of 6 steps. Gladwell goes on to talk about three different types of people who keep epidemics alive: connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Connectors know a lot of people. Connectors keep things interesting and keep things going.