Acknowl­edg­ments are often the author’s chance to reflect on the cre­ative process, high­light­ing the con­tri­bu­tions that helped shape the final work. In Revenge of the Tip­ping Point: Over­sto­ries, Super­spread­ers, and the Rise of Social Engi­neer­ing, the author takes a moment to acknowl­edge the insights of econ­o­mist Albert O. Hirschman, whose under­stand­ing of cre­ativ­i­ty influ­enced the direc­tion of the book. Hirschman argues that true cre­ativ­i­ty emerges when one under­es­ti­mates the com­plex­i­ty of a task, allow­ing for unex­pect­ed break­throughs. This idea deeply res­onat­ed with the author, who ini­tial­ly set out to revise The Tip­ping Point for its twen­ty-fifth anniver­sary but soon real­ized that the project had evolved into some­thing entire­ly new. The shift from a sim­ple update to an entire­ly orig­i­nal work serves as a tes­ta­ment to the unpre­dictable nature of cre­ativ­i­ty that Hirschman described.

The acknowl­edg­ments sec­tion also high­lights the invalu­able sup­port and encour­age­ment received from col­leagues and friends through­out the jour­ney. Jacob Weisberg’s sug­ges­tion to revis­it The Tip­ping Point was cru­cial in set­ting the foun­da­tion for the book’s evo­lu­tion. The author express­es deep grat­i­tude to Tali Emlen, whose research assis­tance was piv­otal, and Nina Lawrence, who played a key role by facil­i­tat­ing many of the inter­views that enriched the book. Many oth­ers, includ­ing Adam Grant, Ben Naddaf-Hafrey, Eloise Lyn­ton, Dave Wirtshafter, Mala Gaonkar, and Charles Ran­dolph, are thanked for their insight­ful feed­back on ear­ly drafts, each con­tribut­ing to the refine­ment and depth of the final man­u­script. These acknowl­edg­ments reflect the col­lab­o­ra­tive nature of the project and the crit­i­cal role oth­ers played in bring­ing the author’s vision to life.

In addi­tion to the sup­port from col­leagues, the acknowl­edg­ments extend to the pro­fes­sion­al team that helped shape the book’s final form. Asya Much­nick, the edi­tor at Lit­tle, Brown, is rec­og­nized for her care­ful and thought­ful read­ings, which great­ly improved the manuscript’s qual­i­ty. Jael Goldfine is thanked for her dili­gent fact-check­ing, ensur­ing the accu­ra­cy of the infor­ma­tion pre­sent­ed, while Allan Fal­low is acknowl­edged for his expert copy­edit­ing. The author also express­es grat­i­tude to Tina Ben­nett, their agent, for her con­tin­ued sup­port and guid­ance through­out the project. These acknowl­edg­ments show how the col­lab­o­ra­tion between the author and their edi­to­r­i­al team was essen­tial in trans­form­ing the orig­i­nal con­cept into a pol­ished and well-craft­ed work.

Above all, the most heart­felt acknowl­edg­ments go to the author’s family—Kate, Edie, and Daisy—whose unwa­ver­ing sup­port pro­vid­ed both inspi­ra­tion and moti­va­tion through­out the writ­ing process. The family’s con­tri­bu­tions are not only rec­og­nized for their emo­tion­al sup­port but also for being a con­stant source of encour­age­ment dur­ing the chal­lenges that inevitably arose. Their pres­ence and back­ing were inte­gral to the author’s abil­i­ty to com­plete the book, under­scor­ing the impor­tance of fam­i­ly as a pil­lar of strength in any cre­ative endeav­or. These acknowl­edg­ments serve as a pow­er­ful reminder that while the cre­ative process is often seen as an indi­vid­ual pur­suit, it is the sup­port of others—whether pro­fes­sion­al col­leagues or loved ones—that tru­ly enables an author to bring their vision to life.

Ulti­mate­ly, the acknowl­edg­ments sec­tion of Revenge of the Tip­ping Point is a cel­e­bra­tion of both the col­lab­o­ra­tion and per­son­al con­nec­tions that fueled the book’s cre­ation. Through the con­tri­bu­tions of many, from col­leagues offer­ing feed­back and research to an edi­tor fine-tun­ing the man­u­script, the work has evolved into some­thing greater than the author ini­tial­ly envi­sioned. These acknowl­edg­ments are not just a list of names but a heart­felt expres­sion of grat­i­tude to those who helped shape the final prod­uct. The sup­port from the author’s fam­i­ly, friends, and pro­fes­sion­al net­work serves as a reminder that the cre­ative process is rarely a soli­tary jour­ney, and the rela­tion­ships that sup­port it play a cru­cial role in bring­ing a book to com­ple­tion.