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Revenge of the Tipping Point explores the moving parts of social epidemics. Specifically, Malcolm Gladwell focuses on the effects of overstories, superspreaders, and small-group variation. In his first book, The Tipping Point (2000), he focused on the implications of the three rules of epidemics: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context.

The Law of the Few is referenced in Revenge of the Tipping Point, as Gladwell discovers further applications for the concept, with even more skewed ratios. The Stickiness Factor—which refers to the memorability or appeal of a message, concept, or product—is not referenced. The idea, however, is relevant to Gladwell’s discussion of the addictiveness of OxyContin and the popularity of TV shows such as Holocaust: The Story of the Family Weiss. The Power of Context, the idea that people’s behavior is subject to their environment, is closely related to overstory effects and small-group variation. The Power of Context was used in The Tipping Point to explain how epidemics were received and popularized in different environments, while in Revenge of the Tipping Point the concepts of the overstory and small-group variation refer to the ways in which people can be influenced to accommodate the spread of epidemics.

As with The Tipping Point and Gladwell’s other books, Revenge of the Tipping Point follows a unique style. He describes a situation or problem and then uses a seemingly unrelated study to draw conclusions as to why events played out the way they did, using casual, accessible prose. He does this in an attempt to make the topics more approachable for readers, and to give the topics wider appeal. By looking for patterns in scientific studies, Gladwell seeks to make connections that explain sociological phenomena or complicated problems, and the data in his books is usually presented in bar graphs and tables (and rarely anything more complicated). Though this approach does render his work digestible, his books have received criticism for oversimplifying scientific data.

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