- Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
- Publication date : September 9, 2014
- Language : English
- Print length : 288 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1455584258
- ISBN-13 : 978-1455584253
- Author: Steve J. Martin
- Author: Noah Goldstein
- Author: Robert Cialdini
The Small BIG: small changes that spark big influence by Steve J. Martin, Noah J. Goldstein and Robert B. Cialdini is an overview of 52 influence techniques that can be used to help nudge people to be more likely to do what you want them to do. This is more a quick overview of techniques with some reference to studies, etc. but without a lot of detail. If you are just looking for things to try without a huge amount of context, this may be a good book for you.
There was little in this book that I had not read before in other books, but I am kind of a nerd on the subject and have read a lot of books on persuasion and influence and behavior ‘nudges’. This is a good intro if you don’t want a lot of details, but you do want to influence your employees, or your customers, or your vendors, or maybe even your kids.
They stress early and late to use these techniques in ethical ways and not for pure self-serving manipulation. After reading these techniques, don’t be surprised if you start to notice some of them being tried on you to manipulate you. That may be a good thing if it manipulates you into doing something that benefits you, but it may also be purely selfish manipulations from unethical folks playing with these tools.
Overall, I recommend the book. It reminded me of things I have known before but re-cemented them into my head a bit more. It gave me some ideas of things to try at work. It reminded me of things to look out for in ads and other places.
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets most of his books out of the library so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
