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| Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die | 
 enlarge | Authors: Chip Heath, Dan Heath
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $14.32
You Save: $10.68 (43%)
New (42) Used (22) Collectible (4) from $12.88
Avg. Customer Rating:  208 reviews
Sales Rank: 116
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3
ISBN: 1400064287
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.13
EAN: 9781400064281
ASIN: 1400064287
Publication Date: January 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: mint brand new,
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Product Description
Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public-health scares circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas–business people, teachers, politicians, journalists, and others–struggle to make their ideas “stick.”
Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the “human scale principle,” using the “Velcro Theory of Memory,” and creating “curiosity gaps.”
In this indispensable guide, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds–from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony–draw their power from the same six traits.
Made to Stick is a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures)–the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of “the Mother Teresa Effect”; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice. Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas–and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 203 more reviews...
 "Do it yourself" consulting: Crafting memorable messages with integrity January 4, 2007
126 out of 140 found this review helpful
If you are going to write a guide to crafting sticky ideas, your book had better embody your principles. Authors Chip and Dan Heath succeed admirably. What I love about "Made to Stick" is that it is not merely entertaining (though it is), it provides practical, tangible strategies for creating sticky ideas. Once you understand these recommendations, you can boil them down to a set of touchstone points to evaluate your own work. This sets "Made to Stick" apart from the work of Malcolm Gladwell, whom the Heath brothers cite as an inspiration. I enjoyed Gladwell's books but could not necessarily apply his ideas to my own work.
My review copy of "Made to Stick" is covered with highlighter. I am reading the book once through for pure pleasure, and then I am going back again to apply the ideas to evaluate the communications of a non-profit organization I am working for. "Made to Stick" challenges you to distill the essence of your message, to get back to core principles and to communicate them in a memorable way. Chip and Dan point out that as we become experts, we tend to use abstraction to define our ideas, and we lose our ability to communicate with novices. They teach us how to bridge that gap so that our ideas are once again accessible by everyone.
"Made to Stick" gives you the tools you need to revamp your own messages. It provides "do it yourself" conuslting in book form, which will be appreciated by activists, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes.
Valuable insights for marketers, advertisers and sellers February 25, 2007
85 out of 93 found this review helpful
With an entertaining blend of case studies and startling research, the Heath brothers lay out the critical elements of a sticky idea. They are--
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories
As you might expect, the authors use these techniques to drive home their point. For example, in the chapter on stories, they talk about Subway's Jared campaign--quite a dramatic behind-the-scenes story besides being a near perfect example of storytelling in marketing.
Although these six elements seem like common sense, they are woefully underapplied in business communication. The authors state it well--
"Business managers seem to believe that, once they've clicked through a PowerPoint presentation showcasing their conclusions, they've successfully communicated their ideas. What they've done is share data."
Well researched, easy to read and hard to forget.
Excellent Presentation of Core Ideas with Lots of Examples April 27, 2007
55 out of 62 found this review helpful
This book is getting a great deal more attention than Allison Fine's "MOMENTUM: igniting social change in the connected age," so up front I want to say I consider them BOTH to be extremely complementary to one another, and MUST READS for any social activist or political reformer, as well as for those crafting educational or corporate messages.
I cannot improve on Brian Bex Huf's review, which I voted for, but for the sake of coherence for those who are alerted when I do a review, here is the meat from Brian's review:
* Simplicity: the idea must be stripped to its core, and the most important concepts should jump out.
* Unexpectedness: the idea must destroy preconceived notions about something. This forces people to stop, think, and remember.
* Concreteness: avoid statistics, use real-world analogies to help people understand complex ideas.
* Credibility: if people don't trust you, they'll ignore you. In some cases, they will be openly hostile, which means they'll actively try to dispute your message!
* Emotional: information makes people think, but emotion makes them act. Appeal to emotional needs, sometimes even way up on Maslow's hierarchy.
* Stores: telling a story [gets] people into paying closer attention, and feeling more connected. Remember the Jared Subway commercials?
The book ends with a five page reference guide that persuaded me of the author's value as consultants. They have given us a low-cost book we can use our5selves, but I am also persuaded they are valuable as brain-stormers for those trying to craft transpartisan and electoral reform messages, so I am recommending them both to the leadership of Reuniting America.
LOTS of details and examples. Easily a five-star book with great social and political value.
Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
 This book didn't stick with me... July 25, 2007
39 out of 47 found this review helpful
I just wasn't impressed. Well, actually, at first I was, but then the simple ideas the authors were so adamant about became repetitive, long-drawn paragraphs of useless information. They just seemed like they were pulling a "do as I say, not as I do" type of stunt..Their big concepts for making ideas stick:
1. Simplicity: The book was all BUT simple, it could've been a lot shorter.
2. Unexpectedness: Once you read the list of critical elements once, the rest of the book is quite predictable.
3. Concreteness: Too long, repetitive to be considered concrete.
4. Credibility: ok, it was credible since the authors have experience in this sector, and you assume an author knows what they're talking about.
5. Emotions: no emotions in this book.
6. Stories: yes, there are many stories of how previous "sticky ideas" were developed, but in the end, I would summarize this book as "the secret to make a sticky idea is to come up with a new proverb", or at least it seems that's what the authors suggest to do.
Creative suggestions that writers and teachers can use January 22, 2007
29 out of 34 found this review helpful
Although aimed at a business audience, I found the authors' suggestions for effective communication equally applicable in classrooms and writing projects. Success in helping students learn or persuading readers follows from applying the "SUCCESs" formula: keep your message Simple but profound; spark interest by opening with the Unexpected; use Concrete examples rather than abstract formulations; make your message Credible by reporting from direct experience; draw people in with Emotional impact; and use Stories to make your message memorable and of human interest. The authors base their arguments on well-validated social-psychological principles but never let the science get in the way of their well-written recommendations. I highly recommend this book for teachers at every level of instruction and for authors who want to increase the impact of their written words.
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