Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense

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Compared to Brits, Americans mostly speak the same language, but tend to interpret it more literally. Unfortunately there is a lot of chaff, and most of it is shed by the massive Worzel Gummidge army of strawmen the author assembles to support his arguments. You can never be fired for being logical. If your reasoning is sound and unimaginative, even if you fail, it is unlikely you will take much blame. It is much easier to be fired for being illogical than unimaginative. Its difficult to reply with “tap water” when you are being asked by waiter “Still or Sparking water?”

The mammalian brain has a deep-set preference for control and certainty. The single best investment made by the London Underground for increasing passenger satisfaction was adding dot matrix displays to inform travellers of the time outstanding before the next train arrived. By removing the record function from the Walkman, Sony clarified what the device was for. Technical design term for this is "affordance".Once you accept that there may be a purpose to things that are hard to justify, you will come to another conclusion: it is perfectly possible to be both rational and wrong. A Management Consultant would define something narrowly, automate or streamline it, and then regard the savings as profit -- regardless of it's downside consequences. Be wary of narrowly defined problems

Here's a good quote: "Behaviour comes first; attitude changes to keep up." That flies in the face of convention that attitudes drive behavior. Give people recycling bins and require them to separate...they probably become more environmentally aware. He says "Give people a reason and they may not supply the behaviour; but give people a behaviour and they'll have no problem supplying the reason themselves. The word "Alchemy" in the book title is more of a metaphor of saying "magic", like how the alchemists in the old days intended to turn low cheap metal (lead) into great metal (gold). Although the alchemists failed to do so in chemistry, the author believes we can still make alchemy happens in other areas (eg: business, policy making, human interactions etc) by using very cheap techniques but making great products/services.Should be required reading for all the technocrats weaned at the altar of Logos. Question assumptions, ask silly questions, and remember that people (mostly) aren't Homo Econominus. In between, he explains why he is pro Trump (because the fact that his actions are impossible to predict makes him a good negotiator), why quotas for women are not useful (we just need to make STEM more attractive to women) and why racism isn't really about the colour of people's skin but about the strance accents of POCs. Delightful read. Breezy and irreverent. The author talks about scenarios where a purely "logical" approach can lead to worse outcomes for business. This book should come with a warning for its display of sexism and white, wealthy middle-aged eurocentric male views. If you can get past that, you might find some of the ideas interesting. The greatest hope for a brighter future lies in adapting transport to more human wants and needs. Behavioural science has immense potential to improve the design of vehicles, roads, railways, planes and pavements– as well as the ways in which we use them – but only when we embrace the messier reality of how people travel.