What is that makes urban myths so persistent but many everyday truths so
eminently forgettable? How do newspapers set about ensuring that their headlines
make you want to read on? And why do we remember complicated stories but not
complicated facts? In the course of over ten years of study, Chip and Dan Heath
have established what it is that determines whether particular ideas or stories
stick in our minds or not, and IMade to Stick/I is the fascinating outcome of
their painstaking research. Packed full of case histories and thought-provoking
anecdotes, it shows, among other things, how one Australian scientist convinced
the world he'd discovered the cause of stomach ulcers by drinking a glass filled
with bacteria, how a gifted sports reporter got people to watch a football match
by showing them the Ioutside/I of the stadium, and how high-concept pitches such
as 'IJaws/I on a spaceship' (IAlien/I) and 'IDie Hard/I on a bus' (ISpeed/I)
convince movie executives to invest vast sums of money in a project on the basis
of almost no information. Entertaining and informative by turns, this is a…
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