Unthinking
October 24, 2011
One on my notable summer reads this year was Unthinking by Harry Beckwith. A very insightful and readable treatise on why we buy what we buy.
A few gems:
All work and no play? Does that person exist? We play all day. And the best marketers recognize the depth of our desire and answer it, in everything from cell phones to investment firms.
What might these paintings say about us? Researchers of phobias have learned that Americans do not list snakes, spiders, or the dark as their fears. They say one thing scares us the most: the thought of being alone.
How much have we changed? Our electric power, ships, and planes are driven by technologies that are 130, 110, and 80 years old, respectively. Television is nearing hundred years old, and the truly transformative technologies of refrigeration, air conditioning, and indoor plumbing are almost as old or older.
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