Made to Stick

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.