Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life

Why it is worth your time

Alchemy is Rory Sutherland's 2019 book on why ideas that make no logical sense often work. Sutherland is vice chairman of Ogilvy UK. He argues that people do not behave like the rational agents in economic models, that a problem can be solved by changing how it is perceived rather than what it is, and that the best ideas, from the Red Bull can to the Eurostar journey, fail any spreadsheet test. The book is a set of cases and rules rather than a single argument. Jason chose it as his TWiST book club pick for May 2020, when the podcast was covering how startups should respond to the pandemic. It suits founders and marketers who want permission to try things the data would reject.