Monday, March 31, 2008

Week Number ??!????!?!?!!!?

Wow. I will admit, I forgot to blog. For a few weeks now. So much going on in school right now! Well, I guess I will start with the new book that we are reading: The Tipping Point.

I read the Introduction and Chapter One to discuss in class. I was intrigued by the examples and associations that were presented in the book. A lot of examples of STD's but that seems to be a very important issue today in the U.S. It is a scary thing, so using those as examples is extremely relevant in my opinion.

What I also enjoyed reading about in the first two parts of the book, was to learn about how such a small percentage can cause such a dramatic change, but also the fact that no matter how you determine why a situation "tipped", the justification is never a dramatic one.

I also enjoyed reading about the example of the "Bystander Effect." The book mentioned the story in which a woman was being attacked in the New York City area for more than 30 minutes by her assailant. She tried fending him off outside her apartment as 38 of her neighbors were witnesses. Although so many people saw what happened, not one person called the police. The attacked woman died. The Bystander Effect says the problem is not that 38 people witnessed the attack, but rather the problem is that BECAUSE 38 people saw the attack. The author mentions that if only ONE person had witnessed the attack instead of 38, the woman might have lived.

Pretty interesting stuff. I am excited about the what the remainder of the book will be like.

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