Made to Stick

Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

By: Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Narrated by: Charles Kahlenberg

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The instant classic about why some ideas thrive, why others die, and how to make your ideas stick.

“Anyone interested in influencing others—to buy, to vote, to learn, to diet, to give to charity or to start a revolution—can learn from this book.”—The Washington Post

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 news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas—entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists—struggle to make them “stick.”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan 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. Along the way, 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 will transform the way you communicate. 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.

©2006 Chip Heath and Dan Heath (P)2007 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Made to Stick summons plenty of brain science, social history, and behavioral psychology to explain what makes an idea winning and memorable—and the Heaths do the telling with beautiful clarity.”—The Christian Science Monitor

“Utterly compelling.”—Los Angeles Times

“Surprising and provocative.”—The New York Sun

Good ideas

Good read for the car. Lots of applicable information for any line of work. recommended.

Fantastic book

Not only practical, enjoyable and full of examples, but very well structured, perfectly written and amazing to listen to!

Eye opening, entertaining and valuable

The authors use many various real world examples to explore and then explain, what makes certain stories, myths, anecdotes and - product pitches - stick in our heads, gain acceptance and become part of our lives. I found it to be so obvious afterwards but I hadn't understood it before. Paradigm shift, disruptive etc are such cliches but the insight this book conveys will turn your approach to sales, presentations, teaching, coaching.... Etc., Upside down for the better.

You will apply in all aspects of your life

I wish I had read this in high school. This book should be mandatory for all college freshman to take.

This would be an excellent book to use when mentoring someone.

Excellent book. Caution, only read this book and use these concepts if you want to become a more effective communicator.

Engaging and fun to read

Rather than going through their framework in a boring way, the authors made their ideas stick by telling interesting, illustrative stories.

absolutely brilliant

soak it all in.. there is great wisdom in this one you don't want to miss.

Listen to It Twice

Once is not enough to retain all the useful information in this book. I will definitely listen to this again.

Very interesting

I will use the ideas in this book for likely the rest of my life. I'll also refer back to it because it was so much to grasp, I need to make comparisons to my life with it and put it to action. Thanks for writing this!

very good

it's a great book. very lengthy sometimes with examples that are overdone and become boring. i think they were trying to get the point across.

Make it suck = keep it simple

Loved the stories and steps to make my ideas memorable beyond regurgitating facts and figures