Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga: a Book Review
With a name like "Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga", a book with a title like that compels one to pick it up and see what the heck the author is talking about. And Joe Romm's new book on how to communicate doesn't disappoint--it's a thoughtful and compelling look at the techniques used by some of history's great communicators to help persuade. Joe Romm is author of the climateprogress.org blog, the most visited climate change blog on the Internet, and the main blog that I use to stay current on climate change and energy news. Romm defines Language Intelligence as "the ability to convince people of something both intellectually and emotionally, at both a conscious and unconscious level." He goes on to say, "If facts were sufficient to persuade people, then experts in science would rule the world. But facts are not, and scientists do not. We filter out all the facts that do not match our views." At the heart of great communication lies great story telling, and Romm give us these tips on how to tell a story people will want to read:
- Write a great headline: Newspaper readers read 56% of the headlines, but only 13% of the stories are at least half-read. Headlines are even more important on-line, since they are what show up on Google searches and tweets. An example of one the most re-tweeted headlines Romm used in 2011: "Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up: June 2011 Heat Records Crushing Cold Records by 13 to 1" (Romm uses a pun and personification to help create an eye-catching headline.)
- Short words are the best words.
- Slogans sell.
- If you don't repeat, you can't compete. Repetition and rhyming help people remember your message.
- The golden rule of speech-making is: "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em; tell 'em; then tell 'em what you told 'em."
- Repeated distortions and smears are as effective as repeated truths, so beware of these sorts of attacks.
- If you want to de-bunk a myth, you need to focus on stating the truth, not repeating the myth.
- If you want to be more noticed and remembered, use more figures of speech (metaphors.) Examples of metaphors I've used include comparing our melting Arctic to the attic of a house that is on fire (Earth's attic is on fire: Arctic sea ice bottoms out at a new record low) and comparing the impact of global warming on extreme weather to the impact steroids have on a baseball slugger (Extreme events of 2011: climate change a major factor in some, but not all).
- Create an extended metaphor when you have a big task at hand. Countless books and articles underscore that extended metaphors are at the core of human thinking.
Video 1. National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Dr. Jerry Meehl uses a metaphor to explain how climate change's impact on extreme weather is similar to how steroids affect a baseball slugger's ability to hit a ball out of the park.
At 183 pages, the book only took me about two hours to read, and I was very glad I did. It was very entertaining and informative, and anyone involved in public communication can learn from this book. I give it my highest rating: four stars out of four. Language Intelligence: Lessons on Persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga is $9.67 from Amazon.com.
Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday, everyone, and I'll have a new post for you on Friday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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This part I agree with:
"And my view is: whether you're somebody who hopes this will work or hopes it doesn't, more knowledge is a good thing."
Still, I see no evidence of hurricane modification anywhere in that interview, nor in real-time.
It was great out earlier, so warm.
So when my forecast says Partly Cloudy, what it really means is Partly Geoengineered? Oh my god. What's next!?
Anyone got any tips on building a geoengineering proof bunker? How thick a layer of concrete would be necessary to protect me from a line-cloud if I suffered a direct hit? What happens if the Al-Qaeda division of the CIA finds out all they have to do is throw rusty AK-47's into the ocean to kill us all?
We're all doomed.
Man Dies In Floods As Storms Set To Continue
A man has died after becoming trapped in his car in floods as large parts of the UK were hit by strong winds and heavy rain.
Forecasters said there will be some respite today with fewer showers - but the wet weather is expected to get worse again this weekend.
Around 90 flood warnings are in place for rivers across England and Wales along with more than 200 less serious flood alerts.
Hundreds of drivers were stranded, thousands of homes were without power and more than 100 people evacuated as winds reached more than 86mph.
In Somerset, emergency services received a call last night reporting a vehicle was wedged under a bridge near a ford in Chew Stoke.
Fire crews and police attended the scene and a man was found in the car and pronounced dead.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said officers were still trying to identify the victim.
The areas worst affected by the heavy downpours were Wales and south-west England.
But the majority of the UK was hit by the storms as they were pushed eastwards throughout Thursday, causing flash flooding.
Western Power said 2,500 customers in the South West and 500 in Wales were without power because of high winds bringing down power lines, but that it was working to reconnect them as quickly as possible.
Three children had to be rescued from Dolbadarn primary school in Llanberis by firefighters in a boat yesterday afternoon when they were prevented from leaving by high water.
Among those hurt in the storms were an elderly pedestrian who cut his head after being struck by a tree, two teenage girls who had head and shoulder injuries and a female driver in her 50s who escaped with minor injuries after the car was crushed by a falling tree trunk.
And doesn't good story-telling involve in keeping the listener on the edge of their seat" - building some ambiguity and making them want to find out what happens? I think there is a difference between expository writing and story-telling. Oops! Sorry, I used some long words there.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL
316 AM EST FRI NOV 23 2012
FLZ022-023-030-031-035-036-GAZ134>136-150>152-164 -231300-
/O.NEW.KJAX.FZ.W.0009.121123T0816Z-121123T1300Z/
COLUMBIA-BAKER-UNION-BRADFORD-GILCHRIST-ALACHUA-B ACON-APPLING-
WAYNE-WARE-PIERCE-BRANTLEY-CHARLTON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAKE CITY...MACCLENNY...LAKE BUTLER...
STARKE...TRENTON...GAINESVILLE...ALMA...BAXLEY... JESUP...
WAYCROSS...BLACKSHEAR...NAHUNTA...FOLKSTON
316 AM EST FRI NOV 23 2012
...FREEZE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM EST THIS MORNING...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A FREEZE
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM EST THIS MORNING.
* TEMPERATURE...READINGS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN NEAR FREEZING
THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS...THEN RISE ABOVE FREEZING BY 8 AM.
* IMPACTS...DAMAGE TO TENDER VEGETATION WILL BE POSSIBLE. ACTIONS
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT THOSE VULNERABLE TO THE COLD.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A FREEZE WARNING MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE IMMINENT OR
EXPECTED FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS. APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD BE
TAKEN TO ENSURE TENDER VEGETATION AND OUTDOOR PETS HAVE ADEQUATE
PROTECTION FROM THE COLD TEMPERATURES. YOUNG CHILDREN...THE
ELDERLY AND THE HOMELESS ARE ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE TO THE COLD.
TAKE MEASURES TO PROTECT THEM.
&&
$$
Good morning all, btw. Happy Friday and to those with moola to burn, happy Black Friday....
Very unexpected, we were only supposed to get 5cm of snow, not 20cm.
Good morning folks.
As for those with moola, don't be greedy! Give away at least half and make Nea proud!
Fun fact of the day: it was colder today in parts of Cuba than it was in parts of Norway.
I think he's addressing the superfluous word issue. The media are actually bad communicators, because they love to use obscure or long words, often just because they can. If the audience must stop and think about the meaning of a word they just heard, because they only encounter it once every year or two, then they aren't listening to the next sentence, so the speaker hasn't actually communicated anything.
Nice amount of snow covering everything.
Won't see the ground again for 5 months atleast.
That's actually NOT the case.
Both Tesla and Edison predicted AGW due to man-made pollutants, and lamented not having a practical solution at that time. James Hansen actually drew a graph, in the 80's, forecasting the progression of Global Warming (not cooling) and it turns out that he was not off by much.
xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TRACKING THROUGH THE OHIO VALLEY COULD BRING
ACCUMULATING SNOW TO THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. AT THIS
TIME THE BEST CHANCE FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL BE SOUTH OF
M-59...HOWEVER FUTURE FORECASTS WILL BE ABLE TO BETTER DEFINE THIS
AREA AS WELL AS SNOWFALL AMOUNTS.
and
On the topic of Dr. M's blog, for me this is a good example of a headline that "brings it home" so to speak. My youngest daughter is about this age:
If you’re 27 or younger, you’ve never experienced a colder-than-average month
I had a rough ride on Thursday, driving up to Big Pine Key. The wind must of been blowing close to 25 mph from the north. The wind has laid down some today, so should be good for whatever boating you want to do.
I am working today as I have done every year of my adult life. Never participated in Black Friday sales and from what I see, I never will. Good luck to all those brave souls looking for a bargain. Have a good day and weekend everyone.
Trailer up (snowmobiles),is what we say in S. WI, when we see this :) Just wear lots of orange clothing! Snow flurries in our neck of the woods, with temp holding at 26 w/gusts around 25mph.
Hey, lilElla! Nice to see you here again this winter :) This does seem like it will be the beginning of our snowpack, and we're certainly off to a good start!
What I woke up to this morning. The initial forecast was 1-3".
Link
Looks like the lake snows kicked in! And hi back at yah :)
Happy day after Thanksgiving and currently Black Friday..
I survived T'Day by balancing food with football..
Some very un-usual (football) calls I must say.. :)
Here is my current WU weather
1 KM Visible Satellite for Florida
1 KM Visible Satellite for Southern Florida
Representations of climate science on Fox News Channel and in the Wall Street Journal opinion pages are overwhelmingly misleading
In 2007, News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch claimed coverage of climate change in his media outlets — which include Fox News Channel and the Wall Street Journal opinion pages — would improve over time.
Such improvement has not been achieved. A 2012 snapshot analysis shows that recent coverage of climate science in both outlets has been overwhelmingly misleading.
The analysis finds that the misleading citations include broad dismissals of human-caused climate change, rejections of climate science as a body of knowledge, and disparaging comments about individual scientists. Furthermore, much of this coverage denigrated climate science by either promoting distrust in scientists and scientific institutions or placing acceptance of climate change in an ideological, rather than fact-based, context.
Fox News Channel Coverage of Climate Science
Millions of Americans get information about climate science from the Fox News Channel. In 2011, it was the most popular cable news channel in the United States. During prime time, a median of more than 1.9 million people watched it.
• Ninety-three percent of Fox News Channel's representations of climate science were misleading from February 2012 to July 2012 (37 out of 40 references).
• The most common form of criticism regarding climate science was to broadly dismiss the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring or human-induced.
• Misleading representations also included 10 instances in which a panel member expressed acceptance of climate science findings, but was drowned out by hosts or other panel members responding with multiple misleading claims.
Wall Street Journal Opinion Page Coverage of Climate Science
The Wall Street Journal has a broad readership and enjoys the largest circulation among American newspapers — more than 2 million daily readers. Within the Journal, the opinion section operates separately from the news section.
• Eighty-one percent of letters, op-eds, columns, and editorials in the Wall Street Journal's opinion page were misleading on climate science from August 2011 to July 2012 (39 of 48 references).
• Most of the misleading editorials, op-eds, columns, and letters attempted to broadly undermine the major conclusions of climate science. Instances of attacks on individual scientists, mocking the science, and cherry picking data were all equally common.
• Denigration of climate science was routine. Instances included accusations that scientists were fudging data and claims that they are motivated by financial self-interest.
Examples of Misleading References to Climate Science
“The green energy stuff—I mean, that’s—that’s all a hoax and a fraud based on another hoax and fraud, global warming.” (Fox News Channel, 3/23/12)
“We are in the middle of what you might call a global warming bubble. It is a failure of the global warming theory itself and of the credibility of its advocates…” (Wall Street Journal column, 3/9/2012)
“The lack of any statistically significant warming for over a decade…” (Wall Street Journal op-ed, 5/27/12)
“I thought we were getting warmer. But in the ‘70s, it was, look out, we’re all going to freeze.” (Fox News Channel, 4/11/12)
Coverage of Climate Action Also Overwhelmingly Negative
• Although the analysis focused primarily on representations of climate science, it also found that both outlets placed heavy emphasis on negative coverage of climate action aimed at reducing global warming emissions, including personal lifestyle decisions as well as government policies.
Source: The Union of Concerned Scientists
48F in Havana, Cuba this morning. Very odd. Not only that, it stayed at that temperature for a number of hours.
You seem to want snow REALLY bad.
Might want to consider moving to an area that gets it. IIRC, DC is pretty close to some states that get snow - how about taking a nice drive to snow.
FWIW, I wish I could, but it takes longer than a weekend to get there and back and a ton of gas money.
Latest Solar News and Updates
Geomagnetic Storm Watch / Filament Eruption
11/23/2012 by Kevin VE3EN at 15:15 UTC
Updated 11/23/2012 @ 04:45 UTC
Geomagnetic Storm Watch
Thanks to multiple eruptions on the Earth facing side of the Sun, two Coronal Mass Ejections appear to be somewhat Earth directed. The first CME impact is expected during the day on Friday. Minor to Moderate geomagnetic storming will be possible heading into Saturday when the 2nd impact is expected. Stay Tuned to SolarHam.com for the latest information.
WATCH: Geomagnetic Storm Category G2 Predicted
Highest Storm Level Predicted by Day:
Nov 23: G1 (Minor) Nov 24: G2 (Moderate) Nov 25: None (Below G1)
Added 11/23/2012 @ 15:15 UTC
Filament Eruption
A large filament located in the southern hemisphere erupted on Friday morning and a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was generated. Most of the plasma cloud is heading south, however a weak portion of the cloud may be Earth directed. More information to follow. Video of the eruption below.
Image credit: Solarham
Viewing: 451 - 501
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