Book Review - Win Bigly: Persuasion in a world where facts don’t matter by Scott Adams

Adams trained as a hypnotist and from these lessons he determined that successful persuasion had no basis in logic and common sense. People are not logical or sensible. He goes on to describe the ways Trump used the tools of cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias to wipe the floor with Hillary. His well-crafted tweets helped him dominate the daily headlines and control the media.

“Trump probably knew that one arrow in the chest could kill him, but if he had a thousand arrows, lined up just right, he could sleep on top of their pointy ends the same way a bed of nails works. …. Trump could relegate any unflattering story to the back burner by introducing new provocations (often via tweet) every day.”

Whether you like Trump or not, this is an interesting insight into how an outsider blew out the ‘most qualified presidential candidate of all time’. He includes a good reading list, plus a short chapter on effective writing (which I’ve tried to follow in this review).

As easy read with a few cartoons.