EyebrarianPrize winnersGet the app

Books › Made to stick

Cover of Made to stick

Made to stick

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

304 pages

A masterclass in communication that reads like a collection of fascinating campfire stories.

Where to buyBooks like this

What it feels like

Reading this book feels like sitting down with a brilliant, endlessly fascinating mentor who knows exactly how to hold your attention. The pacing is brisk and energetic, propelled by a steady stream of sticky anecdotes—from kidney-heist urban legends to Nobel-winning scientists—that make the underlying psychology impossible to forget. It replaces the dry, academic dread of communication theory with a bright, intellectually stimulating atmosphere where every chapter sparks a new moment of clarity. The prose is crisp, witty, and conversational, deliberately modeling the very principles of simplicity and surprise that it preaches. It is an incredibly empowering experience, designed to delight marketers, teachers, and anyone desperate to cut through the noise and make their voice truly resonate.

Mood
  • intellectually stimulating
  • energetic
  • curious
  • empowering
Tone
  • engaging
  • witty
  • practical
  • persuasive
  • conversational
Pace
brisk
Themes
the power of storytelling · psychology of memory · effective communication · overcoming the curse of knowledge · anatomy of influence
The writing
Crisp, conversational, and heavily driven by memorable anecdotes that perfectly illustrate the authors' core principles.
The arc
Begins with a curious exploration of urban legends and evolves into an empowering toolkit for crafting unforgettable messages.
Who it's for
Professionals, educators, and creatives who are tired of their important messages getting lost in the noise.

About the book

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.From the Hardcover edition.

Description from Open Library.

Books like Made to stick

See why they match