Product Description

Martin Lindstrom is the perfect guide to the new science of `buy-ology'. Be prepared to have your cherished beliefs overturned.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11350 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
Lindstrom brings together a great many strands of research to build a fascinating case. The writing is snappy and the book s a page turner --BBC Focus November 2008

A must-have for those involved with marketing and advertising --ReFresh

Review
'... thorough and persuasive ... rewarding reading not just for marketing professionals, but for anyone interested in the way we behave.'

Review
Lindstrom brings together a great many strands of research to build a fascinating case. The writing is snappy and the book s a page turner

Customer Reviews

Not much new; yet very conceited
buyology presents a few interesting insights, but mostly the narrative is marred by the authors irrelevant and boastful ego trip. Also - I find the book lacking in nuance. E.g. Lindstrom often reports that X has an effect on Y - but not how big an effect, and alternative explanations are not given much thought nor space.

Mostly the book fails because it does not tell us why we react in certain ways. In that respect the book simply shows us that brainscanning can tell us which advertising schemes works. But brainscanning can't tell us in advance how or why this works and that does not. Also the book lacks a discussion of how the brainscanning set-up is different from real-world advertising. E.g. It's all fine that mirror-neurons get credit for the ipod fad, but why only the ipod? Why not all other products?

A better book, with focus on the brain, would be A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives. Also The Political Brain: How We Make Up Our Minds Without Using Our Heads is highly reccommended.

Mediocre - don't waste your time
This is a pretty lightweight book, and self-indulgent as well.

Most people will learn very little of interest that they probably don't already know. The possible exception to this is facts about the author himself, which are sprinkled throughout the text. Did you know he has an "extremely young, boyish-looking face"? Or that he has "raked-back blond hair"? Do you care?

So anyway, what I have learned is that we don't remember most of the advertisments we see; and we mostly buy stuff for irrational, unconscious or emotional reasons. And by scanning people's brains, you can see how different parts respond to brands and logos. This gives you a bit of insight into hard-to-explain human behaviour, such as smokers who smoke heavily despite the dire health warnings on cigarette packets.

Other amazing things I've learned include the fact that the smell of coffee makes you want to drink coffee.

As far as the book itself goes, Lindstrom fails to produce a decent narrative - it's just a jumble of loosely-connected facts, heaps and heaps of padding, repetition and irrelevant personal details. Plus I spotted a couple of dubious-looking "facts" which I easily found to be incorrect with a quick search of the web.

And as for the author himself - well, after a while he just comes across as egotistical, if not mildy delusional. He's just puffing up a few fairly obvious bits of science into a book he can use to promote his own personal brand.

Oh, and he claims to be responsible for egg yolks being bright yellow. I kid you not.

Some interesting facts but too wordy
This book talks about research which has been carried out to determine what makes us buy things. Paco Underhill wrote "Why we Buy" but his approach has been to study people in supermarkets and understand behaviour that way. This book uses the latest in technology - eg MRI - to assess reactions to things. So there is a kind of bizarre fascination in reading how we really do not understand why we react to things in a particular way - it is all determined by the subconscious. Some very interesting findings are presented. My problem is that reading this book is a bit like going on a treasure hunt. There are some wonderful grains of genius, but there is a lot of fluff around it. I got the impression that this author was padding it out so that he could produce a decent length book and make a lot of money. He repeats himself a lot and engages in a lot of "Did you think X? Well, the next chapter will show you how wrong you were" or "I thought Y, and I set out to prove it". OK, I can see the author is some kind of genius, but this book really should provide more for your money than a few interesting facts dressed up in a long and rambling tale.

If you're interested in marketing then by all means buy this book but be prepared to be bored at least half of the time.