“This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it” and “there are, in fact, only two ways to beat the Curse of Knowledge reliably. The first is not to learn anything. The second is to take your ideas and transform them” (pg 20).

Ideas that stick need to be “simple” elegent and prioritized. Not dumbed down. (pg. 30).

‘“Finding the core’ and expressing it in the form of a compact idea, can be enduringly powerful” (62).

“The linkages between emotion and behavior can be more subtle. For instance, a secondary effect of being angry . . . is that we become more certain of our judgments. When we’re angry, we know we’re right” (pg. 67).

“If you want to motivate people to pay attention, we should seize the power of big surprises” (pg 69).

“If you want your ideas to be stickier, you’ve to break someone’s guessing machine and then fix it” (pg. 71).

A good process for making your ideas stickier is:

“Identify the central message you need to communicate - find the core;
Figure out what is counterintuitive about the message - i.e. What are the unexpected implications of your core message? Why isn’t it already happening naturally?
Communicate your message in a way that breaks your audience’s guessing machines along the critical, counterintuitive dimension.” (pg 72).

“Journalism was not just about regurgitating the facts but about figuring out the point” (pg 76).

“Gaps cause pain. When we want to know something but don’t, it’s like having an itch that we need to scratch” (pg 84).

“The trick to convincing people that they need our message is to first highlight some specific knowledge that they’re missing . . . then challenge them to predict an outcome (which creates two knowledge gaps - what will happen? And Was I right?) - pg 85.

“Set the context and give people enough backstory that they start to care about the gaps in their knowledge . . . start by highlighting some things they already know” (gp 92).

“Novices perceive concrete details as concrete details. Experts perceive concrete details as symbols of patterns and insights that they learned through years of experience” (pg 114).

“We forget that other people don’t know what we know” (pg 129).

“Thinking about statistics shifts people into a more analytical frame of mind . . . the mere act of calculation reduced people’s charity. Once we put on our analytical hat, we react to emotional appeals differently. We hinder our ability to feel” (pg 167).

“Belief counts for a lot, but belief isn’t enough. For people to take action, they have to care” (pg 168).

“Ask ‘Why’ three times . . . Three Whys can be useful in bypassing the Curse of Knowledge” (pg 201).

“Credible ideas make people believe. Emotional ideas make people care” (pg 206).

“Stories can almost single-handedly defeat the Curse of Knowledge . . . they reflect your core knowledge” (pg 237).

Grade: B

Although there are a few points and ideas I will take and carry with me forever, overall, it seemed a bit redundant. A shorter book would have been twice as better.

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