Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings tr...
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reviews
Jan 22, 2009
Trevor
rated it: 
I came upon this book in a convoluted fashion. It was nearly recommended to me in a round about sort of way by Richard, a GoodReads friend, when he pointed to a review of Blink by someone else on GoodReads who is some sort of expert in the field (although, I have to admit I’m still not totally sure which field that is). The expert felt Gladwell was a little too simplistic. I enjoyed Gladwell’s books very much and so was keen to see what made them seem too simplistic to someone ‘in the field’ an
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Feb 03, 2008
sundeep
rated it: 
from my blog, thesunrising.com
Summary: When marketing anything, keep these six concepts in mind if you want your message to shtick: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories; yes, my friends, that spells SUCCESs. If it sounds like too much work, these two concepts also work: Free, Sex (noooo, that’s not in the book…but it works I tell you!).
Recommended? Si. It’s a quick, fun read full of interesting anecdotes and examples that make the book’s message more More...
Summary: When marketing anything, keep these six concepts in mind if you want your message to shtick: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories; yes, my friends, that spells SUCCESs. If it sounds like too much work, these two concepts also work: Free, Sex (noooo, that’s not in the book…but it works I tell you!).
Recommended? Si. It’s a quick, fun read full of interesting anecdotes and examples that make the book’s message more More...
Aug 12, 2011
Richard N.
rated it:
Recommend to anyone who'd like to get information across to people in a way that sticks!
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The search for getting information into people's heads... a tough one, I'll admit. I've run across some GREAT examples (some of which are presented in this book), but could never really put my finger on a clear plan of action for duplicating the successes of the examples.
Well hello Heath Brothers - thank you for helping me FINALLY reach this goal.
Being as engross More...
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The search for getting information into people's heads... a tough one, I'll admit. I've run across some GREAT examples (some of which are presented in this book), but could never really put my finger on a clear plan of action for duplicating the successes of the examples.
Well hello Heath Brothers - thank you for helping me FINALLY reach this goal.
Being as engross More...
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Mar 30, 2008
Douglas
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MADE TO STICK – Chip and Dan Heath
SUCCES
Simple – Unexpected – Concrete – Contextual – Emotional – Stories
Step-by-directions, how to achieve stickiness
“Those are the six principles of successful ideas. To summarize, here’s our checklist for creating a successful idea: a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story. A clever observer will note that this sentence can be compacted into the acronym SUCCESs. This is sheer coincidence, of course. (Okay, we admit More...
SUCCES
Simple – Unexpected – Concrete – Contextual – Emotional – Stories
Step-by-directions, how to achieve stickiness
“Those are the six principles of successful ideas. To summarize, here’s our checklist for creating a successful idea: a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credentialed Emotional Story. A clever observer will note that this sentence can be compacted into the acronym SUCCESs. This is sheer coincidence, of course. (Okay, we admit More...
Aug 15, 2007
Steve
rated it:
If you are a business person, teacher, or just someone trying to get your idea across, this is a great book to read!
Written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, one a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford, the other an education consultant and former researcher at Harvard Business School. They look at the key aspects of what makes some ideas and stories stick in people's minds. They boil things down to 6 key principles of simplicity that make things stick in people's memories. More...
Written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, one a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford, the other an education consultant and former researcher at Harvard Business School. They look at the key aspects of what makes some ideas and stories stick in people's minds. They boil things down to 6 key principles of simplicity that make things stick in people's memories. More...
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Jan 29, 2009
Gayle
rated it:
Chip and Dan Heath are really on to something here. Why can we all remember the somebody-stole-your-kidneys story, but not how mitosis works? The Heath brothers have pooled their expertises (organizational behavior and education consulting) to show us how to make our ideas "sticky"--that is, memorable. (I so could have used this--wait. I can still use this! Woo Hoo!)
The book is enormously worthwhile, and even has a reference guide in the back. But as an enticement, let me s More...
The book is enormously worthwhile, and even has a reference guide in the back. But as an enticement, let me s More...
Jan 21, 2012
Loy
rated it:
Remember the subway advertisement? The guy who lost over 200 pounds eating only the vegetarian sub?
What about proverbs like “A bird in hand is worth two in a bush” or what comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “Sour Grapes”?
What about John F. Kennedy’s Man on the Moon vision?
Why is it we remember Urban legends like the Kentucky Fried Rat, Coco Cola dissolving tooth, Kidney thieves or the fact that you can see the Great Wall of China from space?
Welcom More...
What about proverbs like “A bird in hand is worth two in a bush” or what comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “Sour Grapes”?
What about John F. Kennedy’s Man on the Moon vision?
Why is it we remember Urban legends like the Kentucky Fried Rat, Coco Cola dissolving tooth, Kidney thieves or the fact that you can see the Great Wall of China from space?
Welcom More...
Sep 13, 2011
Eva
rated it: 
Copied-and-pasted:
Why do some ideas succeed while others fail? In their book, you’ll learn what they discovered – the six key qualities of an idea that is made to stick:
1. Simplicity – How do you strip an idea to its core without turning it into a silly sound bite? The answer is finding the core intent. Core messages help people avoid bad choices by reminding them of what’s important. Coming up with a short, compact phrase is easy. On the other hand, coming up with a profound More...
Why do some ideas succeed while others fail? In their book, you’ll learn what they discovered – the six key qualities of an idea that is made to stick:
1. Simplicity – How do you strip an idea to its core without turning it into a silly sound bite? The answer is finding the core intent. Core messages help people avoid bad choices by reminding them of what’s important. Coming up with a short, compact phrase is easy. On the other hand, coming up with a profound More...
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Apr 13, 2011
Dave
rated it:
As a writer and speaker, I love stories. I love to tell them, to write them, and I love to read them. I also like to read about stories, what makes them work, how they excite our imagination, how we use them to enrich our communications. Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die is about all that and more.
Good salespeople, advertisers, marketers, PR professionals, even managers wanting to motivate their employees and entrepreneurs needing to excite their investors can make More...
Good salespeople, advertisers, marketers, PR professionals, even managers wanting to motivate their employees and entrepreneurs needing to excite their investors can make More...
Mar 23, 2011
Mark
rated it:
I listened to this Audio CD on a beat up old boom box while recovering from Lasik Eye Surgery because the light from my iPod was too strong to attempt downloading anything at the time. The Narrators voice was deep and easy to focus on it almost drown out some of the pain I was feeling. Almost... I did just have a laser shot into my eyes. This great narration aided me in my ability to concentrate on the book and make me forget all about how itchy my eyes were while lying in my dark room with the
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Oct 24, 2010
Krista
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
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May 11, 2010
Tim
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I secretly love advice books. Especially business advice books. This is probably mainly because I am not a businessman, have no real connection to the corporate world, and as a result, the whole culture seems foreign and exotic to me. Business advice books are my escapist literature. I had heard good things about Chip and Dan Heath's Made to Stick so I decided to check out a copy.
The book begins by asking why urban legends are so pervasive, so sticky, to use the terminology of the bo More...
The book begins by asking why urban legends are so pervasive, so sticky, to use the terminology of the bo More...
Aug 22, 2009
Anya
rated it:
When I have enough money to buy books again, I'm planning to build a marketing and communications library. It will consist of three books: "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, "Influence" by Robert Cialdini, and this book, which is maybe the one of the three that knocked me on my butt most often as I was reading it.
The (adorable!) Heath brothers (check out their nerdy-preppy hottitude on the back cover!) are Chip, a Stanford business professor, and Dan, an edu More...
The (adorable!) Heath brothers (check out their nerdy-preppy hottitude on the back cover!) are Chip, a Stanford business professor, and Dan, an edu More...
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Aug 14, 2009
Natbas
rated it:
There are two parts to ideas- the part where you tell something, and the part that sticks in their head: now, if you are telling someone something, it means you want to get the idea across- how do you do it?
This is where this book comes in.
I hope they don't have a copyright on this, but the authors summarize this nicely: SUCCESS
Your idea should be Simple, and it should have an element of the Unexpected, and it should be Concrete and Credible, it should relate to Emo More...
This is where this book comes in.
I hope they don't have a copyright on this, but the authors summarize this nicely: SUCCESS
Your idea should be Simple, and it should have an element of the Unexpected, and it should be Concrete and Credible, it should relate to Emo More...
Aug 05, 2009
Randy
rated it:
"Made to Stick" by Chip Heath & Dan Heath.
The book Made to Stick researched why some ideas are remembered, while others don't affect people the way they were intended. They created a formula for how to create ideas that are remembered and developed the SUCCESs acronym.
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories
One of the most interesting components to me started on page 22, where it refers to an Israeli research team that c More...
The book Made to Stick researched why some ideas are remembered, while others don't affect people the way they were intended. They created a formula for how to create ideas that are remembered and developed the SUCCESs acronym.
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories
One of the most interesting components to me started on page 22, where it refers to an Israeli research team that c More...
Apr 18, 2009
James
rated it:
Some business books are written to promote consulting gigs. This is one such book. You can usually tell when the summary chapter just takes the table of contents and re-arranges it a little. I picked this up because one of the authors is the founder of an innovative website used extensively by my kids---Thinkwell.com.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this book. The ideas are coherent, presented well, and made relatively easy to digest (following the their own enunciated pr More...
There is nothing inherently wrong with this book. The ideas are coherent, presented well, and made relatively easy to digest (following the their own enunciated pr More...
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Mar 26, 2011
Janelle
rated it:
I wish everyone would read this book. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could all communicate our ideas more effectively and have them remembered?
This book is easy to read, insightful and even humorous at times, which I wouldn't expect in a book of this nature. The process of making ideas stick is applicable to any field of work. The basis for this book is derived around SUCCESs that breaks down to Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credentialed, Emotional, and Story. Broken down More...
This book is easy to read, insightful and even humorous at times, which I wouldn't expect in a book of this nature. The process of making ideas stick is applicable to any field of work. The basis for this book is derived around SUCCESs that breaks down to Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credentialed, Emotional, and Story. Broken down More...
Dec 29, 2010
Key Questions: How do you create the SUCCESS criteria for Groups? At EastLake they are the “catch all” for all the ministries and programs we don’t run!
1. Simple:
a. Find the “core” of your message
b. Write using the “lead” approach
c. Force prioritization – Don’t allow for uncertainty! (How do you do this when you offer choice?)
d. Groups – Feature Creep
e. Using schemes – think about non-church ones and use those!
2. Unexpected:
a. Value in sequenc More...
1. Simple:
a. Find the “core” of your message
b. Write using the “lead” approach
c. Force prioritization – Don’t allow for uncertainty! (How do you do this when you offer choice?)
d. Groups – Feature Creep
e. Using schemes – think about non-church ones and use those!
2. Unexpected:
a. Value in sequenc More...
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Mar 28, 2010
Mo
rated it:
I'm only fifty or so pages into this book, but I had to share a certain passage before it gets lost in a sea of equally clever passages. In a section detailing how to communicate the core of an idea in a simple, memorable fashion, the Heath bros warn:
"Compactness alone isn't enough...Compact messages may be sticky, but that says nothing about their worth. We can imagine compact messages that are lies ("The earth is flat"), compact messages that are irrelevant ("Go More...
"Compactness alone isn't enough...Compact messages may be sticky, but that says nothing about their worth. We can imagine compact messages that are lies ("The earth is flat"), compact messages that are irrelevant ("Go More...
Feb 05, 2009
Chip and Dan Heath__a Stanford professor and an education entrepreneur, respectively__attempt to determine why one idea succeeds while another fails. What could have been a dry marketing textbook is, instead, a generally engaging narrative generously endowed with anecdotes and instructive sidebars. The Wall Street Journal expressed annoyance at the profusion of personal stories, while the Washington Post cited some problems with the overall framework. Overall, however, Made to Stick is a worthy
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May 20, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
I get annoyed with myself because I can't recall things I want to remember, like my telephone number, while my brain will not let go of things I wish to forget, like the theme song from Gilligan's Island. I've often thought this was some sort of personal flaw, but according to Chip and Dan Heath it's all in the presentation of the idea. Some are "stickier" than others. (Okay, they never mention telephone numbers or theme songs, but I can extrapolate.)
In Made to Stick, th More...
In Made to Stick, th More...
May 02, 2010
Mike
rated it:
First, perhaps we can come to consensus on what 3 stars mean. To me, 3 stars means "average", *not* "mediocre". And for me, the "average" book is pretty good, otherwise I don't think it would get published and come to my attention. Plus, if we set 3 stars to mean mediocre, we'd only have two ratings (4 and 5) for 90% of the books we read, which clearly wouldn't do! So, for me, anyway, 3 stars is not a negative review. Now, with that out of the way, let's get to "
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Jan 06, 2009
Aprille
rated it:
Book #26 0f 2008. I was hooked on this book from the first time I read the prologue online. Dealing with ideas that are able to burrow into our subconscious and influence our behaviors, the brothers approach this from the standpoints of business and academia. In researching sticky ideas, urban legends are an obvious place to start. What really sticks with me is the research into tainted Halloween candy - which shows that there NEVER WAS any apples w/ razor blades reported to police!!! Only two i
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Sep 27, 2011
Shawn
rated it:
This book was mentioned by Republican strategist Frank Luntz on C-Span2's Book TV. Solid examples of how issues are framed for maximum "resilience." The art of the soundbyte is truly subtle and delicate, like surgery. It reminds me of an anecdote from a PBS documentary on Newt Gingrich, before the 94 landslide. He used to monitor elections around the country and would record his advice on cassette tapes and send them to candidates to improve their messages. That's like Mr.Smith goes to
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May 17, 2011
Cara
rated it:
Really interesting book on why some ideas are memorable and take on a life of their own, while others aren't and don't. More importantly, it tells how to make your idea stick. But even if it wasn't useful, the reasoning behind it and examples are really interesting. They've obviously put a lot of work into making the book a good example of compelling, sticky work. This is the most fun book I've read in awhile, and probably the most fun business book ever.
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sticky = under More...
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sticky = under More...
Sep 17, 2011
Mike
rated it:
This was the first audiobook I have ever listened to in its entirity, and I listened to it in my car while commuting to/from work for the last two weeks. First, I had to admit, I had a very hard time getting used to *listening* to a book. I also found my self rewinding and listening to parts again, not because I was interested in what was being said, but mostly because I was busy driving and missed what was being said. I'm going to try another few audiobooks before I give up, but I'm not sure
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Jun 08, 2011
J
rated it:
Made to Stick provides insight regarding why some ideas take hold while others do not. The authors Chip and Dan Heath use entertaining stories to demonstrate that effective communication changes people. The Heath brothers accomplish this by explaining how people think, how the reasons behind decisions are not always immediately evident and even counter intuitive.
Borrowing from successful advertising campaigns and teaching regimens, the Heaths cover some ingenious methods used by th More...
Borrowing from successful advertising campaigns and teaching regimens, the Heaths cover some ingenious methods used by th More...
Jul 06, 2009
Isk
rated it:
Review:
Name one thing your teachers ever helped you with in your writing.
Yeah, sure, you learned some nitpicky grammar ("..." vs. "....") and some basic templates ("the 5-paragraph essay"!) -- but please. After you mastered those simple foundations, did you ever really figure out what separated your A- paper from something great?
Summary:
The message is pretty obvious: to get people to remember and act on what you say, your deliver More...
Name one thing your teachers ever helped you with in your writing.
Yeah, sure, you learned some nitpicky grammar ("..." vs. "....") and some basic templates ("the 5-paragraph essay"!) -- but please. After you mastered those simple foundations, did you ever really figure out what separated your A- paper from something great?
Summary:
The message is pretty obvious: to get people to remember and act on what you say, your deliver More...
Sep 04, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
This was a fantastic book. As the authors mention in the introduction, it takes the idea of "sticky" ideas from Gladwell's The Tipping Point, and strives to dissect ideas that stay with people into their important, core components. They break things down the chapters into ideas regarding SUCCESs: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories. The writing isn't quite as engaging and fluid as Gladwell, but that's not the point of the book. It's intended to be more of a h
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Jan 04, 2012
Smokingpen
rated it:
This was a fun book to read, outlining the definable qualities of what makes something viral and "sticky", or something we are likely to remember. The Heath brothers do a good job in sharing cogent examples and in making things understandable, while also showing how things should be used, offering somewhat realistic expectations of the process, and then encouraging people who read to explore the concepts being taught. They augment the book with a website and additional material, includ
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