Will I love The Catalyst?

Brothers Chip and Dan Heath authored some of my favorite books (like Made to Stick), so it’s no wonder I love the content of Chip Heath’s one-time mentee Berger, as well. He looks at persuasion from a variety of angles and illustrates how different approaches work when we need someone to act or think a particular way. Berger opens with a hostage standoff where a deadly outcome seems unavoidable, and he breaks down why a particular approach beat the odds. Then he does it again and again (with everything from political advertising to kids willingly eating laundry detergent) to… show more.

There were a lot of great nuggets of information in this book. I've talked and disagreed with others before (as I feel everyone sometimes does since we are all individuals), and I've noticed some trends around how people react to new information that felt odd. This book breaks down what to expect when you try to change someone's mind and great tricks to use to help create more understanding (both for yourself and others).