The hugely anticipated first book from the TED Talks star and advertising legend
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.
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.
*Nassim Nicholas Taleb, scholar and former trader; author of the
Incerto.*
Revelatory and entertaining
*The Sunday Times*
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.
*Robert Cialdini, bestselling author of Influence, Yes!, The Small
BIG and Pre-suasion*
Deeply original
*Robert Trivers, evolutionary biologist and author of Deceit and
Self-Deception*
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
*CAMPAIGN magazine*
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.
*Geoffrey Miller, evolutionary psychologist, author of The Mating
Mind, Spent, and What Women Want*
Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant … wonderfully heretical, naughty
and funny … Uncommon sense on stilts
*Jules Goddard, Fellow of the Centre for Management Development at
London Business School and co-author of Uncommon Sense, Common
Nonsense*
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.
*Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist*
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!
*Dilip Soman, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and
Economics, University of Toronto*
Stimulating and funny
*The Times*
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |