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Alchemy
- The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense
- Narrated by: Rory Sutherland
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
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Alchemy
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Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense, written by Rory Sutherland.
To be brilliant, you have to be irrational.
Why is Red Bull so popular - even though everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we prefer stripy toothpaste?
We think we are rational creatures. Economics and business rely on the assumption that we make logical decisions based on evidence.
But we aren’t, and we don’t.
In many crucial areas of our lives, reason plays a vanishingly small part. Instead we are driven by unconscious desires, which is why placebos are so powerful. We are drawn to the beautiful, the extravagant and the absurd - from lavish wedding invitations to tiny bottles of the latest fragrance. So if you want to influence people’s choices you have to bypass reason. The best ideas don’t make rational sense: they make you feel more than they make you think.
Rory Sutherland is the Ogilvy advertising legend whose TED Talks have been viewed nearly seven million times. In his first book he blends cutting-edge behavioural science, jaw-dropping stories and a touch of branding magic on his mission to turn us all into idea alchemists.
Featured article: Steven Bartlett recommends…
In the spirit of continuous learning we asked Steven to share with us the books he’s enjoyed and been inspired by. Covering psychology and health to business and technology, read on to discover Steven Bartlett’s top listening recommendations.
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What listeners say about Alchemy
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 27-11-20
Merlin would be proud.
I was highly intrigued to listen to this book after hearing Rory speak on a podcast. I found his insight on human behaviour interesting, and this book delivered a great deal of that. Whilst I fully understand an author may not be able to consider every demographic whilst writing a book. I did feel at times that his target audience seem to be middle class Oxbridge types. For instance when he discussed taxes and giving more choice to a tax payer who they would pay taxes too. I am African Caribbean my experience over the past 50+ year's from the police is vastly different from that of the NHS and or the Fire Service. And I suspect many from similar back grounds. Some given a choice I probably wouldn't choose to give my taxes to fund the Police. This would ultimately cause me more harm in the long run even with all my negative experiences. If on the other hand it was merely a placebo effect in which it didn't matter which box I ticked local and central government did what they wanted anyway with my knowledge (much like they're doing anyway) I would feel better in myself thinking that I was giving my taxes to the NHS.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- SH
- 09-10-19
Treeeemendous
Pithy, funny and thoughtful exploration as to why logical economic models and evolutionary reality might be so very different.
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- robert elliott
- 13-11-19
Excellent book
An excellent book, great as a gift, great as a reference guide, great in all respects. The fact that it is narrated by the author makes you feel like you are having a private conversation where he is sharing the wisdom he has gained over his life and career. People sometimes say that you can’t teach people to think creatively - this book can.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-07-20
Brilliant
Finished listening 2 minutes ago and already looking forward to listening again - starting tomorrow
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Richgar
- 20-04-20
Thoroughly entertaining, brilliantly insightful.
Blue sky thinking at its absolute best. Even better than his weekly columns for The Spectator magazine.
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- A Pearce
- 21-08-22
Brilliant
I sometimes struggled to follow all the arguments but it was very entertaining and insightful
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- MR
- 29-11-22
Informative and genuinely funny
Great book, some very thought worthy ideas and an insight into ourselves and the world at large. Fantastic narrative, I really do enjoy it when the author reads their own book with the passion in which it was written.
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- Salsera :-)
- 24-04-22
Captivating listen: how to rival Coca Cola
How do you rival Coca Cola: make a smaller, more expensive, horrible tasting drink - AKA Red Bull.
This book is full of such paradoxes, which shouldn’t work but do, ie Alchemy!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. M. Jayasekera
- 24-01-24
A new way of understanding human interaction
A very insightful listen, it’s cleared up a lot of unexplained human phenomena using behavioural psychology. Thanks.
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- Ms. Gill Wilson
- 06-12-20
loved this book.
this was such an interesting opportunity to think differently for a while. I enjoyed the quiet facts and ideas around explaining human behaviours.
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