Made to Stick - Book of the Year

Ok, so now that Amazon decided to bring itself back up, I can finally give you the review of the latest business book I made myself read. Made to Stick - Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath, was recommended as a must read by my good friend, Tuyen Truong of TeamWorkLive. As usual, when I hear must read and business book in the same sentence, I cringe, because I know it's most likely some BS. He even told me he'd buy me the book if I didn't like it, so I figured I had nothing to lose.

I picked up the book in Barnes and Noble while I was there doing some work. I leafed through the first few pages because I wasn't about to waste my money on another crappy book. Low and behold, I was sold the first page in. I'm not sure if it was awesome and catchy story that I was introduced to in that first page or whether it was the fact that this book covered a problem I was currently having - getting our idea to resonate with people. Whatever the case, I practically read the whole thing that day, and have been raving about it ever since.

The book was incredibly insightful about what makes stories endure - why some stories can be recounted by those that hear them and others are forgotten the minute they're told. As they step you through stories that stick and those that don't, they dissect why this is the case, with astounding simplicity. It's short, to the point, and an easy read. I won't lie... I didn't finish the Epilogue in those two days. I put that off for a week or so. But the rest of it I could barely put down.

The end of the book also has a great wrap-up of everything that was taught in the book, which makes it an easy reference. So go buy it. And use the link above. You'll be supporting me.