Change

How to Make Big Things Happen

By: Damon Centola

Narrated by: James Fouhey

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's Summary

How to create the change you want to see in the world using the paradigm-busting ideas in this "utterly fascinating" (Adam Grant) big-idea book.​

Most of what we know about how ideas spread comes from best-selling authors who give us a compelling picture of a world, in which "influencers" are king, "sticky" ideas "go viral", and good behavior is "nudged" forward. The problem is that the world they describe is a world where information spreads, but beliefs and behaviors stay the same. 

When it comes to lasting change in what we think or the way we live, the dynamics are different: beliefs and behaviors are not transmitted from person to person in the simple way that a virus is. The real story of social change is more complex. When we are exposed to a new idea, our social networks guide our responses in striking and surprising ways. 

Drawing on deep-yet-accessible research and fascinating examples from the spread of coronavirus to the success of the Black Lives Matter movement, the failure of Google+, and the rise of political polarization, Change presents groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting new science for understanding what drives change, and how we can change the world around us.

©2021 Damon Centola (P)2021 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"An utterly fascinating read that will challenge some of your core assumptions about how social change happens. As a leading sociologist and expert on social networks, Damon Centola reveals that if you want to change beliefs and behaviors, influencers are overrated and sticky ideas aren’t always enough - and he explains what really causes the rise of movements and the diffusion of innovations. It might be the most important book on the science of social influence since Cialdini's Influence.” (Adam Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife)

“This remarkable book provides a powerful way to think about change. Damon Centola elegantly synthesizes the latest research from network science, sociology, and psychology into a critically important guide to effecting change in our individual lives, businesses, societies, and beyond.” (Jonah Berger, Wharton professor and best-selling author of The Catalyst and Contagious) 

“In this moment of history when engrained norms and behaviors are being upended, Damon Centola, the scientist who reshaped our narrative about social change, helps us understand what sticks, and what passes, and how to use this knowledge to foster positive change. Change is a journey that highlights how social networks and norms, together, reshape our society." (Albert-László Barabási, author of The Formula)

Complex Contagion

The book does a great job at explaining it's point but it is so overly complex that it is hard to follow

Great insights & easy 'read'

Did you love Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point? Then you'll like this one a lot too! It's non-overlapping, timely, and includes a fair amount of examples from the Life Sciences. An excellent, enjoyable, and educational read!

Good overview of network dynamics

The author is a respected and highly-cited professor of experimental sociology and complex contagions at Penn (formerly at MIT). In this book he discusses, in a way that is very engaging most of the time, his and others' studies in network dynamics, e.g., social networks, biological networks, transportation networks, etc. He also describes interesting results from experiments designed to affect network dynamics in the most effective way.

The author makes no attempt at introducing, and then distilling into lay terms, the mathematical rigors I feel are necessary to make the study of network dynamics really pop. But this is still one of the better treatments on the subject I've come across.

The narrator was excellent! Not perfect, but excellent.

See also Sync, by Steve Strogatz, one of my overall favorites on this subject, which is highly underrated.

Destined to be a classic

I’m already planning to revisit several of the excellent chapters in this book. It really deserves better than a five star rating!

Change Happens

it was a good book easy to listen to the narrator did a good job.

Horrible

A waste of your time. Don’t buy it. Subject and examples go on an on

A very very important book

A must read for anyone looking to improve it’s leadership capabilities and function of the team