Take a photo of a barcode or cover
65 reviews for:
Alchemy : The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity
Rory Sutherland
4.0 AVERAGE
65 reviews for:
Alchemy : The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity
Rory Sutherland
4.0 AVERAGE
Although this book has been written by the vice-chairman of Ogilvy (an advertising agency), the insights presented can also be applied to business, policy making and daily life. The author references game theory, evolutionary psychology and behavioural economics research as well as his own experience to support his message. The result is an elegant defense of the usage of unconventional creativity for problem solving in a world that transformed economic models into restrictive dogmas. The main point is that value/money/power can be generated 'out of thin air' by changing the perspective and referring back to the true motivations of people.
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Making a train journey 20 per cent faster might cost hundreds of millions, but making it 20 per cent more enjoyable may cost almost nothing.
It seems likely that the biggest progress in the next 50 years may come not from improvements in technology but in psychology and design thinking. Put simply, it’s easy to achieve massive improvements in perception at a fraction of the cost of equivalent improvements in reality."
"We don’t value things; we value their meaning. What they are is determined by the laws of physics, but what they mean is determined by the laws of psychology."
"Sadly, no one in public life believes in magic, or trusts those who purvey it. If you propose any solution where the gain in perceived value outweighs the attendant expenditure in money, time, effort or resources, people either don’t believe you, or worse, they think you are somehow cheating them. This is why marketing doesn’t get any credit in business – when it generates magic, it is more socially acceptable to attribute the resulting success to logistics or cost-control."
"As any game theorist knows, there is a virtue to making slightly random decisions that do not conform to established rules. In a competitive setting such as recruitment, an unconventional rule for spotting talent that nobody else uses may be far better than a ‘better’ rule which is in common use, because it will allow you to find talent that is undervalued by everyone else."
"Conventional wisdom about human decision-making has always held that our attitudes drive our behaviour, but evidence strongly suggests that the process mostly works in reverse: the behaviours we adopt shape our attitudes."
"It seems safer to create an artificial model that allows one logical solution and to claim that the decision was driven by ‘facts’ rather than opinion: remember that what often matters most to those making a decision in business or government is not a successful outcome, but their ability to defend their decision, whatever the outcome may be."
"The advertisements which bees find useful are flowers – and if you think about it, a flower is simply a weed with an advertising budget."
Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Making a train journey 20 per cent faster might cost hundreds of millions, but making it 20 per cent more enjoyable may cost almost nothing.
It seems likely that the biggest progress in the next 50 years may come not from improvements in technology but in psychology and design thinking. Put simply, it’s easy to achieve massive improvements in perception at a fraction of the cost of equivalent improvements in reality."
"We don’t value things; we value their meaning. What they are is determined by the laws of physics, but what they mean is determined by the laws of psychology."
"Sadly, no one in public life believes in magic, or trusts those who purvey it. If you propose any solution where the gain in perceived value outweighs the attendant expenditure in money, time, effort or resources, people either don’t believe you, or worse, they think you are somehow cheating them. This is why marketing doesn’t get any credit in business – when it generates magic, it is more socially acceptable to attribute the resulting success to logistics or cost-control."
"As any game theorist knows, there is a virtue to making slightly random decisions that do not conform to established rules. In a competitive setting such as recruitment, an unconventional rule for spotting talent that nobody else uses may be far better than a ‘better’ rule which is in common use, because it will allow you to find talent that is undervalued by everyone else."
"Conventional wisdom about human decision-making has always held that our attitudes drive our behaviour, but evidence strongly suggests that the process mostly works in reverse: the behaviours we adopt shape our attitudes."
"It seems safer to create an artificial model that allows one logical solution and to claim that the decision was driven by ‘facts’ rather than opinion: remember that what often matters most to those making a decision in business or government is not a successful outcome, but their ability to defend their decision, whatever the outcome may be."
"The advertisements which bees find useful are flowers – and if you think about it, a flower is simply a weed with an advertising budget."
It touches on a lot of the human irrationality behind the decisions we make, in life, in shopping, etc. Interesting, and infuriating at the same time haha we're not nearly as smart as we think we are.
funny
informative
fast-paced
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
An amazing book with a fantastic new perspective on logic and ‘psycho-logic’
Read this for my Behavioural Science book club and it was a treat. The book made me feel like Rory would be the best person to be sat next to at a dinner table (his appearance at our book club only confirmed this). Though written from an advertising perspective and thus very grounded in the market aspects of behavioural science if you approach this book with your brain as fertile ground, some of the scattered seeds are bound to sprout in your own area of expertise.
P.S. I had to read it on Kindle, so I did not check the footnotes as I should have. Reading them later - so many good tidbits and much humour in there.
P.S. I had to read it on Kindle, so I did not check the footnotes as I should have. Reading them later - so many good tidbits and much humour in there.
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book has some true gems, but about half the book is railing against a bizarre straw man argument that no one seems to be making. Also has some very sloppy thinking, which makes me not trust the bits that were newer to me. Overall, I hope he tries again with a better editor.
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Incredible book, that uses psychologic as opposed to a pure data-driven approach. Includes some psychological themes of:
Minimising downside risk
Decoy effects to have a comparison point to anchor too
Signaling
Status driven behavior (Swapping gold for iron in Spain for a war effort with a stamp saying you swapped gold for iron)
Alchemy also claims we've solved a lot of the simple logical problems, and are hence left with an oversized number of psychological problems. Interesting.
Minimising downside risk
Decoy effects to have a comparison point to anchor too
Signaling
Status driven behavior (Swapping gold for iron in Spain for a war effort with a stamp saying you swapped gold for iron)
Alchemy also claims we've solved a lot of the simple logical problems, and are hence left with an oversized number of psychological problems. Interesting.
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced