Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity

‘A breakthrough book. Wonderfully applicable to everything in life, and funny as hell.’ Nassim Nicholas Taleb 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? Discover the alchemy behind original thinking, as TED Talk superstar and Ogilvy advertising legend Rory Sutherland reveals why abandoning logic and casting aside rationality is the best way to solve any problem. 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. He shows how economists, businesses and governments have got it all wrong: we are not rational creatures who make logical decisions based on evidence. Instead, the big problems we face every day, whether as an individual or in society, could very well be solved by thinking less logically. To be brilliant, you have to be irrational.

About the Author :
Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and the founder of the behavioural science practice. He writes the Spectator's 'Wiki Man' column, presents series for BBC Radio 4, serves on the advisory board of The Evolution Institute, and is former President of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). The IDM (Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing) awarded Sutherland an Honorary Life Fellowship. His TED talks have over 6.5 million views. He authored a collection of blog posts, interviews, tweets and reference materials, The Wiki-Man, in 2011, and his first book Alchemy was published in 2019.

Review :
This is a breakthrough book: Mother Reality makes sense in her own way. She yields her secrets to practitioners, almost never to academics - something psychologists, economists and non-skin in the game people, no matter what they say, are functionally unable to grasp. And the book is funny as hell: I smiled and laughed at every paragraph. Furthermore, this is the first such treatise written by someone who had true contact with reality via something called a P/L. And this is wonderfully applicable to about everything in life, from how to announce airplane delays to how to handle unsold opera tickets. Buy two copies of this book in case one is stolen. Revelatory and entertaining Reading Alchemy was, as its title promised, the process of turning paper and print into gold. Veins of wisdom regarding human functioning emerge regularly and brilliantly from the pages. Don't miss this book. Deeply original Sutherland’s book touches on many facets of life, but all come down to the importance of “psycho-logic”, or non-rational factors, in how we make decisions and how problems can be solved Rory Sutherland is one of the all-time great raconteurs, polymaths, and ad men. But this book shows his hidden depths. Within this fun, quirky, hilarious page-turner, he develops a profound critique of technocratic hubris and fetishised economics. Sutherland helps us rediscover the profound wisdom behind everyday human reasoning, and invites us to explore the magic that happens when we trust a bit less in our focus groups and optimization models, and trust a bit more in our creative eccentricity. Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant … wonderfully heretical, naughty and funny … Uncommon sense on stilts Buy this book for the footnotes alone… As a committed devotee of rationalism, who thinks there is not enough of it in this world, I rationally ought to hate this book. Instead I loved it. It’s full of great insights. Sutherland captivates in a narrative full of intellectual treats that explain much of the behaviours in the world around us. This illogically logical read is a must read for anyone who is in the people business! Stimulating and funny