The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

This is a fascinating book about exceptional people, surprising changes that are all around us, and just how poorly we understand ourselves and society. You should definitely read this book if at all interested in marketing or public awareness, and in understanding how ideas and behaviour can spread.

The lessons for investing are less obvious. It would be wonderful to stumble across a company on the cusp of exponential growth, but the drivers would be difficult to spot unless you know the key people, and the product and market in fine detail. Our biggest takeaway was just how susceptible we are to our environment and those around us; it is no wonder that the stock markets can fluctuate wildly without apparent reason or cause. Prices affect prices and that, to me, shows how important it is to combine technical analysis with fundamentals when investing, as we do at Cadence.