Customer Reviews
Great thinking from the ad industry - By: C. ARNOLD, 04 May 2008 
This books is a great collection of many ideas, thoughts, ironies & creative thinking from the ad industry. Plus a few new thoughts. I've bought loads of these (and Purple Cow) & given them away to clients, desperate to get them to think a little more creatively. I use it with students as well. A must read (and the second book). Quick to read & easy, maybe that's why it's sold over 1/2 million. Paul was regarded as one of the great alll time creatives within advertising but sadly he died recently - a great loss to the ad community.
Snake oil - By: Alex DaLarge, 12 Apr 2008 
I have no doubt that Arden was a genius in the field of advertising. However, this little volume is like some of Edward De Bono offcuts with random graphics,
fine if it fell out of a cereal packet or a xmas cracker, but £5 for this book is a joke.
Arden's big phrase was 'astonish me' - he was obviously too astonished to make any effort with the writing of this book. The only astonishing thing here is that 1500 words of meretricious garbling can cost a fiver.
Paaarp
glib - By: Nt Deregowski, 07 Apr 2008 
I read this book in a bookshop in about half an hour.
The advice is often utterly foolish.
For instance, anyone with half a brain knows that, irksome though it may be, a college qualification is an essential "gateway" into most firms, though perhaps it wasn`t when Arden himself was starting out, & the advertising industry was still in its infancy in the UK.
It`s also the case that, although the unusual routes to success aremore newsworthy, conventional methods exist for a reason, & following them is therefore advisable (dreary though that may be).
I`d add, as an artist, that this book suggests a glib attitude to creativity, as if one can simply begin a project utterly detached form tradtitions, a past, previous solutions etc.
The design of this book is enjoyable however.
Inspirational - By: T. Young, 21 Mar 2008 
I am always a huge sceptic when it comes to these kinds of books, but I thought I'd give this a go, based on the fact it's the "world's best-selling book". And therein lay lesson one - sell yourself as the best, & people will buy it. Of course it's not _reallly_ the world's best-selling book, but I fell for it!
The book itself can only be described as genuinely inspirational, witty, intelligent & (whisper it softly) life-changing. After following only a fraction of the advice, I feel more confident, am doing far, far better academicallly, & can now see the big gates of the future flung open (dramatic, I know, but reallly.) For anyone entering the media, PR or advertising, it is an absolute must.
So, in short, buy it. It costs pennies & might change your life for the better.
MUST HAVE - By: Ms. Shahd K. Alhoweish, 15 Aug 2007 I found this book amazing seriously, at the beginning it took me time to grasp the meanings it had, the i realized its one of those books that you are not suppose to be reading it alll at once, what i did was i read two or three things a day & grasp it very well & try to motivate my self on doing it & make sure imagining myself doing it so i could remember if i was in such situiation my reaction would fit. reallly you will understand once you get this book hope you will think of it the same way i did.
