Have you ever read 11 books in 3 months?
Earlier this month I wrote about the booklist my mentor gave me last fall to kickstart my knowledge as an entrepreneur. Eleven books on motivation, planning, marketing, and psychology.
I’ve summarized and review the books on motivation and planning earlier, but I realized I wouldn’t have the mental energy to do a full post on each one just yet. I will at some point.
So instead of doing a post for each book, I’ll do talk about my main takeaway from them and what I liked or disliked.
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
This book is a straightforward look at the basic laws marketing needs to follow in order to stand out and be effective. Great book, and it really helps out when analyzing and creating business marketing strategies. This one is best if you memorize the principle so you have them on call when you need them.
Hooked
This book teaches a framework to help you make products habit-forming. I almost didn’t like it, until I realized it could help with things like making educational apps that you keep coming back to. That’s the sort of thing it should be used for.
Fascinate
This was one of my favorite books. It talked about the 7 different types of fascination there are, such as mystique, prestige, power, and trust. It gave amazing stories of how different companies use the different types of fascination to claim a space in people’s perception and gave a framework for how to use fascination for your own business.
Made To Stick
Oddly enough, this book didn’t stick very well. I remember that it talked about how to make stories that stood out in the mind and stayed there, such as urban legends. The legends stayed in my head, but the method for making that sort of story didn’t sink in as well. The information here is good, but you have to work to keep it and be able to use it.
Mating Intelligence Unleashed
You know all of those books, guides, and coaches that promise to transform your dating life? Well now the scientists have gotten in on that act too. This book is a summary of a lot of studies on our dating habits and preferences. Surprisingly, there is some really fascinating stuff here, both for social/dating life and for marketers. They talk about the 4 qualities girls really want in a guy (confidence, assertiveness, easy-going-ness, and altruism,) and about how much of our daily life is influenced by the desire to, well, further our species. Overall one of my favorites, but it was a very dense book.
The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene
This was the one book I honestly did not like. I could see why it was recommended, and a few ideas are valuable, but this book was far too machiavellian and manipulative for my tastes. Robert Greene, the author, tells stories of the greatest seducers of history (not always playboys. Benjamin Disraeli and the story of his relationship with the Queen was in here.) The tone of the book is “take what you can. Lie, manipulate, do anything you can to get what you want.” I greatly disagreed with it on that point, but I did find knowing about ways I could be manipulated enlightening, so there is that.
Influence by Robert Cialdini
This book was one of the strangest to read. It was wonderful and terrible. A master psychologist writes on what influences our decisions. If you read this, be prepared that you may have an existential crisis. It made me wonder if free will was real, if so many things have such a strong influence on our actions. I eventually decided that we do, especially when we understand what can influence us if we live without thought. Overall, this was a magnificent book.
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