Made to Stick

One of my new year's resolutions was to read more. And to blog more. So I guess I'll be blogging about books. How's that?

I recently knocked out Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath. It's an interesting book about the transfer of ideas (and often, the failure to do so). The brothers Heath have all sorts of good ideas and interesting anecdotes about how to effectively communicate ideas. A couple highlights:

• Communicating the fat content of movie theater popcorn not by using nebulous terms like "grams" and "polyunsaturated." Instead, the organization stacked up an Egg McMuffin, a burger, fries, and a steak with fixings. Message received.
• A school had a mandatory training day for all teachers and administrators. The proper lead for this story in the school newspaper? Classes are canceled on Thursday.
• John F. Kennedy's simple, concrete, and memorable rhetoric.

This book falls in well with Godin's All Marketers are Liars, or anything Gladwell's done. It's a worthwhile read for anyone who has to communicate specialized knowledge on a regular basis. Also, it has a really cool cover design.