A Must Read Guide for Anyone Who Does Marketing

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When it comes to non fiction, I can't think of any topic that I prefer to read about than marketing. Marketing and business are two things that drive the world. Although marketing may not seem like a calling, it's really no different than teaching, ministry, government service, or a whole host of other occupations I could name. The name of the game in any occupation though is in helping people.

Personally, I prefer to educate my customers. I want to share valuable information with them. However, it's not really enough to educate your customer. You have to inspire them to feel the same passion you do about whatever you are marketing. Reach their emotions, and you have them.

In a rare glimpse at some of the most successful marketing campaigns in history, journalist David Kupelian takes you on a journey to show you how these campaigns succeeded.

I have to say that I'm impressed. The groups who constructed these campaigns were selling everything from "gay rights" to abortion, not topics that we in the mainstream marketing world would consider creating campaigns for. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Even better, Kupelian backs up his credentials with plenty of facts and figures that will really get you thinking. If you're a marketer reading this book, it will really get you thinking about how better to connect with your customers and reach them at their emotions, something an effective marketer will do. If you're a customer, this book will really get you thinking about whether or not you have been hypnotized by those who are trying to sell to you.

I won't lie to you. The information contained in this book is controversial because it will upset those who don't agree. That's why I didn't reveal any of the information about specific campaigns. You will just have to see for yourself. What I will say is that the material is not only well documented but well explained and the writing is very engaging. This book really was hard for me to put down.

It's funny how sometimes we feel better and superior to others when we've read something this educational and controversial and generally reinforces our belief system. I didn't feel that way. I walked away from this book knowing that I wasn't crazy. Not only has marketing changed, and so have the ways we have learned to do it, but the whole world has changed.

If you're looking for a different perspective on marketing, then I highly recommend reading this book. Similar to case studies, you'll have plenty to study, and you'll understand marketing in ways that it's not normally taught. In fact, this book is recommended for anyone who really wants to educate themselves on how powerful marketing really is.

On a scale of one to 10, this book rates an 11. It's definitely worth reading.

The Marketing of Evil

How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom

David Kupelian

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The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age

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The Long Descent: A User's Guide to the End of the Industrial Age
By John Michael Greer
New Society Publishers, 2008, paper, 260 pages, $18.95

Civilizations rise and fall - the Roman Empire, the Mayans, the British colonial empire - and now it's our turn. Consider the author's blunt term, "a post-industrial society." Yes, he means life after our vaunted high-tech industries grind to a halt for a lack of oil.

Petroleum geologist M. King Hubbert developed a formula for projecting when an oil field or a country would reach its maximum production, a point now referred to as Hubbert's peak. In 1956 Mr. Hubbert predicted that the U.S. would hit its oil peak around 1970. He nailed the date exactly and despite continuing exploration, offshore drilling, oil tar sands, etcetera, it has been downhill ever since.

In 1970 Hubbert then applied his formula to global output and his forecast pointed to the year 2000. Recent, more accurate analyses peg the apex between 2005 and 2010. Greer estimates world oil production maxed in 2005 and we are already descending the back side of Hubbert's peak.

It turns out there is a science of fin de siecle for civilizations and Greer displays the formulas and equations used by specialists in the field (fiends de siecle?). But they are unnecessary for the lay reader. The bottom line is that the world is inexorably running out of oil, upon which our society is so utterly dependent, and we are already way behind in preparing for the aftermath.

In fact, those who shout "Drill, baby, drill!" actually sabotage the public interest, making the inevitable transition more difficult, more abrupt and economically traumatic. The author states that to achieve a relatively painless transition to a post-oil economy we should have begun serious long-range planning decades ago, perhaps around the time President Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House.

The Long Descent presents our dilemma in such clear, concise terms, and Greer's research is so comprehensive, that the reader is left with no doubt as to the impending crisis. Like a mouse in a glass jar one's mind scratches in vain to find the flaw in his presentation. The metaphor he uses to explain our denial, our refusal to accept the impending collapse of our high-tech lifestyle, is the Asian monkey trap. The monkey can save himself by releasing the food he has gripped in the gourd trap - but he doesn't, and is doomed. Likewise, we cannot let go of our dependence upon oil. If we could, we'd have a chance to save our economy, at least some of our comfortable lifestyle -- but we don't.

The eye-opening analogy Greer provides for the decline of the oil-depletion curve states that life on the downside will approximate life an equal number of years before the peak. Example: around 1905, one hundred years before 2005, transportation was primarily by horse-drawn buggies and coal-fired locomotives. Thus it will be in 2105.

In Chapter 5, "Tool for the Transition," Greer offers suggestions on how to prepare for the long descent and life in an oil-less society. (Think of craft skills like blacksmithing and beer brewing.) This penetrating, disturbing wake-up call should be required reading for every high school and college student today. Forewarned is forearmed.

Reviewed by John C. Stickler. What was it like in the years after Hiroshima, for a student in the United States growing up in the shadow of the mushroom cloud? One young man, who graduated from high school in 1955, captured those youthful fears eloquently in a series of poems collected now in a 50-page volume. Growing Up Afraid: Poems of the Atomic Age 1953-1963 by John C. Stickler is available here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=John+Stickler&x=21&y=26

Everyday Justice

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I hope you're not drinking a cup of coffee right now. If you are, it may not taste as good by the end of this paragraph. Did you know that most coffee sells for a much lower price than the cost of production? If that fact has an impersonal, financial ring to it, here's what it looks like in reality: Tatu Maseyni, a mother in Tanzania with six children, made $15 for her entire yearly crop of coffee. In the book, Everyday Justice, Julie Clawson explores how our daily decisions affect people like Tatu Maseyni. Everyday Justice gives a basic overview of topics like oil consumption, sweatshops, eating ethically, and modern day slavery.

After waking up, most of us get dressed, eat something, drive somewhere, and at some point during the day, we throw something away. These are things we typically have to do, but Julie Clawson helps us examine how we do them. She explains the global consequences of our daily actions. In a conversational and matter of fact tone, she reveals the connection between chocolate and slavery, refugees from Bangladesh and filling our car with gas, tomatoes and abused workers in Florida. While Clawson exposes overwhelming injustices, she doesn't leave her reader in a hopelessly shocked state. She breaks down the issues by explaining the causes, which often involve a brief history lesson in some sort of international economic policy. She then gives a biblical basis for why we should car about each specific issue and continues with ideas on how we can make the most loving, ethical decisions.

I appreciate the accessible tone of the book. I think it would be appropriate and enjoyable reading for students in high school too. Clawson gives a broad overview of each topic and makes it personal. She shows us that we don't have to be extremists to be a part of reversing these injustices. We can simply choose to make choices each day with an awareness of others, like Tatu Maseyni. When we purchase fair trade coffee, a pretty simple decision made in the grocery store aisle, we are choosing to give farmers a fair price for their work, instead of saving ourselves two dollars. If you look really hard, you may even be able to find a couple dollars in your sofa cushions, but that would be 13% of Tatu's yearly income.

To read more ways to live out social justice in your daily life, check out http://www.dosmallthings.com.

Julia Phillips blogs regularly about social justice issues and parenting at [http://www.dosmallthings.com].

Review - Poisoned for Profit

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Poisoned for Profit: How Toxins are Making Our Children Chronically Ill, Philip and Alice Shabecoff, 2010, ISBN 9781603582568

Have you wondered why there seems to be an epidemic of serious childhood illnesses, like cancer, asthma and birth defects, in America? It has a lot to do with the huge increase, over the past 50 years, of toxic chemicals dumped into the environment. This book gives the details.

There are a number of towns all over the country, ranging from Dickson, Tennessee, to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Toms River, New Jersey, suffering much higher than normal numbers of severe childhood illnesses. Each town just happens to also contain a large industrial plant that handles lots of toxic chemicals. Are the illnesses all "isolated instances" or "just one of those things?"

The authors say that the CEOs of the major chemical companies are not evil people who deliberately want to poison innocent children, but profit is most important. It is very hard to prove, absolutely, that a particular case of asthma or cancer, for instance, was caused by chemicals from a particular industrial plant, though the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong. The chemical companies use that uncertainty to delay the paying of any fines or cleanup costs.

Scientists-for-pay are willing to say what the chemical companies want them to say. The evidence is not conclusive and more study (read: delay) is needed. Washington is no help. Through lobbyists and campaign contributions, it has been made clear to members of Congress that bills to add new regulations are to be watered down or defeated. Only a few of the thousands of chemicals in the environment have been tested at all. Those tests have been very short-term, and have looked at adult exposure to chemicals. The level of toxicity for children and fetuses is much lower.

What can a parent do? If you plan on having children in the future, adopt a healthy lifestyle. Get proper amounts of vitamins and minerals, starting today (men and women). If you already have children, let them play outside and open the windows in your house for at least a few minutes a day (to let out any built-up toxins). Stay away from pesticides and dry cleaning, buy organic food as much as possible, buy furniture and flooring made from solid wood instead of particleboard, which is treated with formaldehyde. There are also plenty of websites to visit with safer alternatives to everyday items.

This book easily reaches the level of Wow. It is very easy to read, and is quite an eye-opener for all parents and parents-to-be. This is highly recommended.

Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose blog, http://www.deadtreesreview.blogspot.com/, emphasizes small press and self-published books.