I bought the first version of the book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, which was written by Chip and Dan Heath and published in 2007.  I just read on the authors’ blog that the new version is available which essentially adds a chapter and some additional 30 pages of content.

Chip Heath is a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  Dan Heath is a consultant at Duke Corporate Education and is a co-founder of Thinkwell, an enterprise dedicated to figuring out how to build a textbook without text but with using videos and other technologies.  Chip’s research led him to wonder why urban legends and conspiracy theories had a way of spreading around socially, “sticking” so to speak.  Dan’s research at Thinkwell led him to conclude that the best professors and lecturers had a similar way of conveying the point to their students and classes.  Being brothers with a keen interest in education, the two decided to write and publish this book.

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Thomas Friedman is well-known for his book, The World is Flat.  His 2008 work, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How it Can Renew America, is insightful and provocative.  If the global economy and U.S. election were not the two biggest topics in the media, I am certain that Friedman’s latest book would receive more coverage in the press.  Hot, Flat, and Crowded is about the need for a Green Revolution.  More than 400 pages in length, it is not a light read.  If you don’t have time to read a book of this length, seriously consider the CD or MP3 version.  If that’s not an option, borrow the book and read the first and last chapters.

Sometime ago, I wrote about the President’s Climate Commitment initiative.  I stated that I thought it was the right thing to do even though I wasn’t sure that carbon neutrality was achievable in the near term.  Friedman’s premise is that reducing our carbon footprint is the right thing to do for our children and that waiting twenty or thirty more years to start conservation efforts will be too late.

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Cass R. Sunstein is a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and a prolific writer.  In Infotopia, he portrays the various options for gathering information.  Prediction markets, wikis, blogs and open source software are among the choices that he reviews.  Deliberation is a process of decision making that most of us are familiar with, particularly if we’ve served on a jury.  Sunstein describes the strengths and weaknesses of that process and how it can be improved or impaired depending on the size of the group and the influence of “experts” in the group.  While the transference of the knowledge and techniques described in many of these chapters may not currently be available to many small businesses, the fact that some of our largest and sophisticated corporations (Google, Microsoft) are utilizing them, may give rise to a wider and more affordable access in the future.

Infotopia is not a book intended for mass audiences.  Sunstein’s research and writing provides a reader interested in trends and statistical analysis of large populations a background solid enough to ask the right questions of a consultant or employee statistician.