Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advetising and Marketing by Mark Shaw (32)

Mark Shaw's Copywriting is pretty obviously a manual on how to write good copy for commercial purposes. The text is long, the font is tiny, and could it be any more conspicuous to read on the train (the cover is neon yellow in real life), but it was very helpful and a good start.

The best bits of this book were the examples of successful brands, including lovely photos of the products, and the interviews with copywriters and editors. I love that advertising funnels creativity in a way that can really birth something beautiful and intriguing. We all know good ads and good copy when we see them. I want to be able to know what is good before seeing it written by someone else.

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy and the New Science of Desire by Martin Lindstrom (29)

The continuing deluge of books about human decisions based on emotions, stereotypes and snap judgments have been enlightening and disappointing. Martin Lindstrom compiled studies in Buyology that me doubt human capacity for reason and understanding the world and ourselves. Were the Enlightenment philosophers I idolize delusional?

Buyology is a marketing and branding master's study of the real reasons why people buy the products they buy. He examines advertisements that work, advertising methods and myths that just won't die, and why people say one thing and purchase another.

It is a fast read that looks much longer and more cerebral than it is. Lindstrom's simple style makes reading the brain chemistry explanations easy. It's better researched than a Gladwell, but not quite as entertaining. Maybe the most interesting bit of the book is the evidence that contradicts the idea that most people are capable of knowing themselves and their motivations. I believe in man's ability to resist emotional urges. I think Lindstrom does too, and wrote this book to share tools for overcoming our irrational impulses.