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Buy-ology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong (Unabridged)
 
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Buy-ology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

by Martin Lindstrom (Author), Will Thorp (Narrator)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Audio Download
  • Listening Length: 5 hours and 55 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: AudioGO Ltd.
  • Audible Release Date: 1 Sep 2009
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002SQ80PG
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
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Product Description

Why did so many people who took the 'Pepsi challenge' say they preferred Pepsi only to carry on buying Coca-Cola? Why do the majority of anti-smoking campaigns inadvertently encourage people to smoke? Why does the scent of melons help sell electronic products?

If you're bewildered by these questions, then Buy-ology will make everything clear.

Written by one of the world's top branding gurus, and drawing on state-of-the-art research, it shows why we don't always buy things for the reasons we think we do.

©2008 Martin Lindstrom; (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Martin
Format:Paperback
Like other bona fide readers of this book, I found it a strange mixture: it does have some interesting insights. But these are overshadowed by the vanity of the author. As well as a shocking sloppiness about facts: for example, one of the two scientific techniques used in the research that supposedly underpins this books is "S.S.T." What does SST actually stand for? Good question - in some parts of the book (e.g. the index) he says it stands for "Solid State Typography". Elsewhere is the book he says it stands for "Solid State Topography". (e.g. page 208). If he can't get even that right, it's difficult to trust him elsewhere.

Speaking of trust. I can't help notice that reviews on this site for this book fall into two camps: reviews like mine, which say the book is "okay but". There there are THIRTY reviews which give it a 5. All these reviews appear to be by reviewers who have reviewed no other book, and give this work one paragraph reviews that verge on the ecstatic: "Mind Blowing!" "Oh what a book!" "Perfectly written". I'm sorry, and I don't wish to offend anyone, but I find it difficult to believe that all these reviews are genuine.

If you're interested in the subject, worth buying -- but be prepared to skip the bits about what a genius the author is, and treat the book with caution -- as well as some of the reviews about it you can read here.
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66 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Feeble
Lots of people have covered it in sufficient detail so I won't over do it but this book is poor at best. Many examples of basic science coupled to highly dubious assertions. Read more
Published 9 days ago by JamesW
Entertaining read but leaving a sense of slight disappointment
The book is entertaining, lightly written and pretty fast to read. The thing is that I've set too big expectations after hearing the interview with the author. Read more
Published 7 months ago by MaggieWhy
Good book, interesting topic, not the best writer
This is a great book, and the subject matter is certainly fascinating, however I would recommend it only as a coffee table book or as something to dip in and out of rather than a... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Sarah
Read the five-star reviews skeptically
The book starts with a foreward featuring the unusually critical "Like a Pre-Raphaelite painting there is a glow that emanates from Martin as if he was destined to be on stage. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Daniel O'Connor
Mind blowing.
Very good research on brain scanning to interpret our behaviour as consumers. Opens a new way for times to come.
Published 18 months ago by N. L. Pereira
Rubbish - avoid
A long string of anecdotes that demonstrates people do have a relationship with their purchases and the brands that are associated with them, and precious little else. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jezza
Egotistical author insults readers' intelligence
Let me begin by quoting a few phrases from this book:

"I'm a global branding expert....if you look around, chances are pretty good you'll find my branding fingerprints... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Bix
Beware! Vacuous and vain
I really hated this book. I simply could not get beyond the arrogance of the man. It might have made a good New Yorker article (with a good sub-editor) but it is painful reading... Read more
Published 20 months ago by cactus100
Easy reading with little added value
This book is a good way to spend some hours reading if you do not care spending quite a lot of time learning remarkably little hard facts. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Marco Lucisano
To Buy or Not To Buy
I think from what I've read both in the book and by the reviewers, the biggest problem with Buyology is Martin Lindstrom. Read more
Published 23 months ago by L. Huynh
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