Cascades How To Create A Movement That Drives Transformational Change

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· 66 ratings · 13 reviews

Start your review of Cascades: How to Create a Movement That Drives Transformational Change

Jul 15, 2020 Martin Smrek rated it really liked it

Great introduction into campaign strategy. However, bit short, simplified and repetitive. Otherwise, it would receive 5 stars. So defintely a good starting point if you want to get into planning campaigns.

Basic journalism standards not even considered. Anecdotal stories offer no measurement of value other than we feel good about support communists or anti-democratic movements. Fine, but how did people benefit. Greater economic freedom, more rights, opportunities, better kill ratio's in the McCrystal story line. Not offered, so reader left with uncritical paeans to Saul Alinsky, et al. Really expected an opportunity to see benefits of his premise. Basic journalism standards not even considered. Anecdotal stories offer no measurement of value other than we feel good about support communists or anti-democratic movements. Fine, but how did people benefit. Greater economic freedom, more rights, opportunities, better kill ratio's in the McCrystal story line. Not offered, so reader left with uncritical paeans to Saul Alinsky, et al. Really expected an opportunity to see benefits of his premise. ...more

Sep 12, 2019 Anu rated it it was ok

Apart from the stories on civil rights movement, the detailed examples were unremarkable. Read the summary on Blinkist instead of the whole book

Nov 19, 2020 Robert Furiel rated it really liked it

This is an easy-to-read book that can serve as an introduction into the theory and practice of movements. What it lacks in substance is compensated with the already mentioned good flow of text with several good examples and an ample amount of notes and references to other, relevant sources (e.g. Gene Sharp's works etc.).

Certain hiccups (such as chastising the Black Lives Matter for not seeking alliance with law enforcement officials, lol) can be contributed to the ideological shallowness of the

Certain hiccups (such as chastising the Black Lives Matter for not seeking alliance with law enforcement officials, lol) can be contributed to the ideological shallowness of the book and can be worked around with help and guidance from a senior movement person.

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Great concepts

Some very deep and insightful concepts. Not delivered in the most effective way. Chapters are very long and jumpy. Overall great work but not very well written.

Jul 04, 2019 Aaron Mikulsky rated it really liked it

You need networks and values. Small groups that are loosely connected but united by a common purpose is crucial! Planning, organization and discipline is also many times where organizations don't put in the effort. "Coupled Oscillation" provides some cool examples (e.g. fireflies and crickets). I also liked the examples of the civil rights movement, IBM's transformation, Lean at Wyeth, the power grid debacle and broadway musicals success factors.

Aug 28, 2019 Oliver rated it liked it

Repetitive read, and if you've read other books on similar topics you can expect many of the old textbook examples such as blockbuster. Would not recommend the book, rather read a short summary somewhere that outlines his core argument

Jul 24, 2021 Shira rated it really liked it

This author's brother is a friend and gave me a copy as a gift - I enjoyed the read. I agree with the basic premise (and specifically with the angle that top-down / charismatic-figure stuff is oversimplification at best, and passe in general), so I was not reading particularly critically for the most part - just having an enjoyable Shabbat read and putting sticky notes on good quotes / sources for stuff I already believe.

The use of the term "cascades" is important in Sunstein's "Conformity" so

The use of the term "cascades" is important in Sunstein's "Conformity" so I was curious, having read Conformity first, how much overlap there was. It's the same basic concept, presented here at a higher level and without drilling down into the supporting behavioral economics - I do not know whether Conformity was even out at the time, so I don't think Satell could have read it. But I would be interested on his take of it.

Speaking of behavioral economics, seems there's a decent helping of hindsight bias involved in the evidentiary support, though - it would be interesting to get an update on Black Lives Matter (deemed a failure in this pre-2020 publication), for example. And I cannot understand why #metoo is not mentioned - and relatedly there is a bit of a male-centric vibe that I can't quite put my finger on, maybe because McChrystal (male military general) is cited throughout and there are no in-depth analyses of women's rights movements. (Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely going to check out McChrystal now - this book sold those ideas quite effectively!)

So - I would enjoy a 2nd edition or a postscript or similar in which the author provides more clarity on BLM, adds #metoo, and ties it to "Conformity." (Perhaps I should have looked him up before writing the review, maybe this stuff already exists)

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Fascinating, practical read

I enjoyed Satell's weaving of background stories from John Lewis, Gandhi & other luminaries into practical advice on how to build sustainable movements that actually make a difference. For me, I judge a book on the length of my notes, which often include "spinoff" ideas inspired by concepts in the text. I have several pages of notes from this book!

Sep 27, 2019 Thomas Beard rated it really liked it

A good review of research on social change. Would prefer more practical application, though the author's topic is kept so broad, it's hard to see how that could be feasible. A good review of research on social change. Would prefer more practical application, though the author's topic is kept so broad, it's hard to see how that could be feasible. ...more

It did have two new concepts for me. The rest was not very practical. Wears out the same few examples over and over.

للنضال مناهج ومبادئ وطرق..
يعرض الكتاب، بالإضافة للمناهج، الكثير من الأمثلة لتحركات غيرت مسار بلدانها وبعضها غير العالم..

Great for the novice, not for others

This book surprised me in many ways. The first was the focus on stories that anchored the discussion of something that can be very technical and dry - network theory. That is what will hook a lot of people for whom this is a new territory. For those who have experience with networks and some of the language of it, the stories (cases) provided something different but didn't offer much of a window into the details and nuances of network theory and its application. There was little in the way of scholarly or journalistic references to support many of the points raised with remarkably little theory outside of a couple of key ideas. For me, this was an opportunity lost. For others, this might unlock a great new world as it provides an accessible introduction into what networks could mean. Sort yourself and that should help you determine whether this is the book for you.

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"Small groups, as it turns out, are almost infinitely scalable." — 0 likes

"Every revolution sets the stage for a counterrevolution. Cascades are only useful if they result in influence, and to do that, they must travel far beyond where they start." — 0 likes

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