Educated: A Memoir

Author: Tara Westover

I read the synopsis and I thought sure, this is another book about a poor and underprivileged kid overcoming the odds and making it into Harvard and finally graduating with a PhD from Cambridge. But on reading the book I was amazed to learn that in rural America there are families that can be so isolated  that you wouldn’t believe they live in the United States.

Tara’s description of her life in rural Idaho is gut-wrenching. I am sure that most families are not as dysfunctional as she describes and the Westover homestead is more the exception than the rule. Nevertheless it opened my eyes to how different life can be deep in the heartland.

I won’t go into the description of hardship and abuse, but what makes this book memorable is the clarity and equanimity of her prose. I am guessing that she must have kept a journal since she is able to recreate the events of the past with uncanny detail. It makes for a heart thumping read and you will find yourself turning the pages eagerly to find out what misery lies in the next chapter.

Overall, this is a great book that is both entertaining and eye-opening.

Positioning: The Battle for your Mind

Author: Al Reis and Jack Trout

This is the grand-daddy of a multitude of books that have been written on the power of Positioning when you are trying to communicate effectively to a customer. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. To be successful today, you must touch base with reality. And the reality that really counts is what’s already in the prospect’s mind.

If you think you will change the mind of the customer, then you are on a path to advertising disaster. According to the authors, millions of dollars are wasted every day by companies trying to change the minds of their prospects. A key insight for me is that rather than looking at your product to come up with a solution, you look for it inside the mind of your prospect.

I got a chuckle out of the free marriage advice. “You build brand loyalty in a supermarket the same way you build mate loyalty in marriage. You get there first and then be careful not to give them a reason to switch.”

Words of wisdom to live by “if you can’t be first in a category, then set up a new category you can be first in”.

Some things are quite obvious but it’s good to read it in black-and-white. “Don’t fight perceptions with facts. Perceptions will always win.”

The authors clearly chose their words very carefully in the book. As an example, I was amused with the choice of numbers in these lines.  ”For every six bottles of Coke sold, Pepsi manages to sell only four.” The authors could very well have said for every three bottles of Coke sold, Pepsi manages to sell only two. Maybe he didn’t use the smaller numbers because the difference didn’t seem as big.

Some striking observations on how international travel has gone from being a privilege of the wealthy to within the reach of the common man. “There was a time when the flight attendants were young and the travelers old. Now the travelers are young and the flight attendants are old.”

This book is a classic that doesn’t need my recommendation!