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Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains Kindle Edition

4.7 out of 5 stars 211 ratings

Ever notice that all watch ads show 10:10 as the time? Or that all fast-food restaurants use red or yellow in their logos? Or that certain stores are always having a sale?

You may not be aware of these details, yet they've been influencing you all along.

Every time you purchase, swipe, or click, marketers are able to more accurately predict your behavior. These days, brands know more about you than you know about yourself.
Blindsight is here to change that.

With eye-opening science, engaging stories, and fascinating real-world examples, neuroscientist Matt Johnson and marketer Prince Ghuman dive deep into the surprising relationship between brains and brands. In
Blindsight, they showcase how marketing taps every aspect of our mental lives, covering the neuroscience of pain and pleasure, emotion and logic, fear and safety, attention and addiction, and much more.

We like to think of ourselves as independent actors in control of our decisions, but the truth is far more complicated.
Blindsight will give you the ability to see the unseeable when it comes to marketing, so that you can consume on your own terms. On the surface, you will learn how the brain works and how brands design for it. But peel back a layer, and you'll find a sharper image of your psychology, reflected in your consumer behavior.

This book will change the way you view not just branding, but yourself, too.
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Equal parts science and storytelling, Blindsight changes the way we see ourselves as consumers...This book is an engaging journey into the science of marketing's influence, and how it impacts how we see the world around us."

-- "Judy Fan, assistant professor of psychology at University of California, San Diego"

"Somewhere hidden between the bright colors, catchy jingles, and strategic placement of advertisements is the psychology behind their influence. This book uncovers this hidden layer of the consumer world and how it affects our thoughts, emotions, and spending habits."

-- "Kendis Gibson, Emmy award-winning journalist and reporter for MSNBC"

"Blindsight is a rigorous examination of how top brands sneak into our brains and grab the best real estate. Deftly mixing neuroscience, psychology, and fun stories, the book is a delight to read; it will grip you from the start, and leave you feeling smarter."

-- "Rich Karlgaard, publisher, Forbes"

"Prince Ghuman and Matt Johnson bring to life the science behind how Facebook holds your attention, how Star Wars captured the hearts of generations of moviegoers, and selling billions in bottled water to consumers with taps in their homes."

-- "Drew Jacoby-Senghor, assistant professor of management at Berkeley Haas School of Business"

"With an entertaining blend of storytelling and science, Blindsight is a truly eye-opening look into the complex dynamics underlying how brands drive consumer behavior. A must-read book that will have you re-examining both information around you and your own purchase decisions at every turn."

-- "Abigail Sussman, associate professor of marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business"

"Beautifully written and fascinating--a behind-the-scenes tour of the marketing schemes designed to cajole, sway, and hook us...Blindsight teaches us how to be smarter consumers who make wise decisions that will ultimately leave us happier, wealthier, and healthier."

-- "Adam Alter, New York Times bestselling author"

Review

"This is one of the best reads for marketing professionals."

The Neuromarketing Science & Business Association

"The two authors have ... delightfully described how our supposedly hardwired brain can so skillfully be manipulated by the media, merchants, and other mercenaries."

Manhattan Book Review

Blindsight is a rigorous examination of how top brands sneak into our brains and grab the best real estate. Deftly mixing neuroscience, psychology, and fun stories, the book is a delight to read; it will grip you from the start, and leave you feeling smarter.”

—Rich Karlgaard, publisher at Forbes

Blindsight teaches us how to be smarter consumers who make wise decisions that will ultimately leave us happier, wealthier, and healthier.”

—Adam Alter, New York Times bestselling author of Drunk Tank Pink and Irresistible

“Somewhere hidden between the bright colors, catchy jingles, and strategic placement of advertisements is the psychology behind their influence. This book uncovers this hidden layer of the consumer world and how it affects our thoughts, emotions, and spending habits. A must-read for consumers and marketers alike.”

—Kendis Gibson, Emmy award-winning journalist and reporter for MSNBC

“With an entertaining blend of storytelling and science, Blindsight is a truly eye-opening look into the complex dynamics underlying how brands drive consumer behavior. A must-read book that will have you re-examining both information around you and your own purchase decisions at every turn.”

Abigail Sussman, associate professor of marketing at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

“Prince Ghuman and Matt Johnson bring to life the science behind how Facebook holds your attention, how Star Wars captured the hearts of generations of moviegoers, and selling billions in bottled water to consumers with taps in their homes. This is the perfect book for readers looking to understand what happens when the magic behind modern branding meets the machinery of the mind.”

—Drew Jacoby-Senghor, assistant professor of management at Berkeley Haas School of Business

“If you want to understand the driving forces behind your decisions, if you want to be smarter about your purchases, if you want to know how to improve your spending habits, read this book!”

—Jiaying Zhao, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia

“Johnson and Ghuman artfully combine science, business, and storytelling to help us understand the invisible forces which shape our decisions and experiences. Along the way, they reveal to us all how deeply interwoven consumerism is into the perception of reality itself.”

—Blake Sherwin, assistant professor of applied mathematics and theoretical physics at Cambridge University

“Fast-paced, clever, and utterly fascinating, Blindsight sheds new light on the deeply rooted beliefs and mental gymnastics that brands tap with precision to create preference. Johnson and Ghuman weave meticulously chronicled science into great stories with thoroughly modern examples that will leave consumers, marketers, brands, or just neuro-curious readers with something to chew on and lots to discuss at your next dinner party.”

—Carol Caruba, principal at Highwire PR

“Equal parts science and storytelling, Blindsight changes the way we see ourselves as consumers. . . . This book is an engaging journey into the science of marketing’s influence, and how it impacts how we see the world around us.”

—Judy Fan, assistant professor of psychology at University of California at San Diego

Blindsight is a refreshing, timely book that will make you examine the secret ways marketing influences you. You won’t be able to think about your own consumer life the same way.”

—Sheryle Bolton, serial entrepreneur

“Drawing creative and insightful connections between scientific studies and the effectiveness of today’s marketing strategies, this book achieves a perfect balance of humor and rigor. Blindsight will make you understand yourself better—as a consumer, and as a person.”

—Natalia Córdova, psychology lecturer at Yale University

Blindsight is an ideal way to gain insight into the incredibly complex interactions between psychology and neuroscience that are underlying the seemingly simple concept of human intuition.”

—James Newell, managing director at Voyager Capital

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07ZKZ5DWF
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ BenBella Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 19, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 8.5 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1950665235
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 211 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
211 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book wonderfully insightful, particularly praising its incredible neuroscience content and how it makes complex principles easy to understand. Moreover, they appreciate its readability, with one customer describing it as a breezy page turner. Additionally, the book receives positive feedback for its marketing strategy, with one customer highlighting its combination of neuroscience and marketing. Customers also enjoy the book's humor, noting its clever jokes.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

31 customers mention "Insight"31 positive0 negative

Customers find the book wonderfully insightful, particularly praising its incredible neuroscience content and providing enough context.

"...The authors somehow packed a ton of neuroscience research, application, and valuable commentary while keeping the book, dare I say, fun...." Read more

"...If you want to learn about psychology/marketing, this book is engaging and educational, without being too dense." Read more

"...with a decent index at the end of the book “Blindsight” is an ideal reference tool...." Read more

"...This book was an interesting supplement to my learning and has impacted the way I approach my practice as everything, from the posters on the walls..." Read more

23 customers mention "Readability"23 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and well-written, with clear explanations of complex neuroscience principles. One customer describes it as a breezy page turner.

"...A perfect example of this is Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Great book, but I feel like I got the point in the first 20 pages, the rest of..." Read more

"...assigned readings are rough to get through, but I had no such problems when reading Blindsight...." Read more

"...The chapters are broken down into highlighted easy to find concepts and with a decent index at the end of the book “Blindsight” is an ideal..." Read more

"...It's a very easy read and I can't recommend it enough." Read more

6 customers mention "Marketing strategy"6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's approach to marketing, with one customer highlighting its combination of neuroscience and psychology, while another notes it's not just for marketers.

"...starting college was Psychology, so having a book mix marketing and psychology was interesting...." Read more

"...This book will change your perspective and awareness of marketing and consumerism forever, and there are countless applications to other fields and..." Read more

"...It is a combination of neuroscience and marketing. However, this book is for everyone, not just for those who have an interest in marketing...." Read more

"...Found out many new things which surround us in every day, updated my marketing game...." Read more

5 customers mention "Humor"5 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor, appreciating its clever jokes and surprising anecdotes, with one customer noting its witty storytelling.

"...There are always good examples and stories, but it never focuses on any one point for too long...." Read more

"...“Blindsight” is well written and easy to understand with humorous and sometimes surprising anecdotes...." Read more

"...everything up with scientific data, and wraps it all in clever, witty story telling...." Read more

"...Filled with up-to-date examples, science-based studies, and clever jokes, it goes through different strategies that brands use to make us buy their..." Read more

Matt and Prince have nailed the current marketing landscape
5 out of 5 stars
Matt and Prince have nailed the current marketing landscape
The timing is perfect! Both for the context in the scope of the world today as well as in my personal and professional life. I was able to use many of the models while reading and am looking forward to applying more in the coming years. Verdana 11 is now my default font, so that's pretty cool! For me the balance between the theory and application was significant. I have noticed the impact of everything that was addressed both in my life and those around me. Now that individuals are marketing campaign's in and of themselves, the insight to be able to understand how traditional placements and ambiance augmentation can soon be implemented is impressive. I was most intrigued by the ethical implications of deep fakes or avatars and OCEAN. Putting one's data in one's own hands or 'key' for passive income streams of the non-wealthy or to help find like-minded individuals through the creation of boxed avatars has certainly already begun. It seems to have the capability to bring people closer together and increase divides. As Jack Ma and Ray Dalio put it technology should augment our basic functioning to allow for improved quality of life. As is referenced with the quote by JayZ, only when each person is a business, man.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2020
    Before I got into the book review itself, one thing about my reading habit ought to contextualize the review. I am an avid reader of non-fiction, and my biggest pet peeve is a non-fiction book about a valuable concept that drags on for 200 pages while making the same point over and over and over again. A perfect example of this is Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Great book, but I feel like I got the point in the first 20 pages, the rest of the book just kept going on about the one point. I am a marketer and self-growth advocate. Meaning, I want to extract the key points from a book and apply them asap, either to my life or my profession, and occasionally, both.

    With that out of the way, I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is one book that I can use, both personally and professionally. Each of the twelve chapters felt like 12 different books. Call it lazy or efficient; I feel like I got my time’s worth of knowledge. Each chapter is packed but furthest from pedantic or boring. The authors somehow packed a ton of neuroscience research, application, and valuable commentary while keeping the book, dare I say, fun. Each chapter felt like a Ted Talk, and it was easy to lose sight of the fact that this was a business book or even a neuroscience book. If Chuck Klosterman did a dozen ted talks (and research), it would be this book in terms of sheer entertainment value. From pop music to wine to shades of grey, the book affected how I see the world, not just as a marketer, perhaps more importantly, as a human-freaking-being.
    27 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2020
    I cannot get the future of marketing chapter out of my head, super timely and genuinely creepy. The world of psychographics was alien to me and the biggest surprise is this world has existed for decades… It made me question at what point nudges are no longer nudges but rather a bite out of free will.

    The rest of the book has timeless concepts I will keep in mind for a long time. I learned about this book from a podcast called Modern Wisdom which features behavior scientists and ‘behavior experts’.

    I’ve read a couple of behavioral economics books. If you like Rory Sutherland’ Alchemy, Blindsight is a must read. The concepts in Blindsight feel like what comes next after behavioral econ. The book is very well researched but doesn’t read like research textbook. The voice of two authors, one is a neuroscientist and the other a marketer, is fused into a single ‘fun guy’ narrator. I learned lessons from both worlds. One of the chapters overlaps a bit with Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman and the rest of the content was novel to me (I read a lot of pop psych/BE books).

    One of the other reviews mentioned Gladwell as a comparison. I respectfully disagree. I’ve always felt Gladwell’s book are 80 percent entertainment and 20% science whereas Ghuman and Johnson’s Blindsight feels the other way around. The tone is fun and casual enough to make me smile through neuroscience research and marketing case studies.
    3 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2021
    Engage with "news feeds" without having read Blindsight at your own risk! Without self-awareness of how information is curated in a way that manipulates our inescapable cognitive biases, we are giving a way our agency and power, and in many cases, our freedom to make informed choices and form our own opinions.

    Beyond that, anyone who manages organizational change must read this book - I am not in marketing per se, but I am in "build / innovate" roles both as a synagogue volunteer and in my practice at work. I am now offering this book as one of two choices for participants in a team I run (I offered a choice partly because of what I read in the book, and have also implemented various principles from the book to optimize experiences, including maximize peak-end effect.

    I absolutely loved how the authors ended the book with- "give this to a consumer, or better yet a marketer" - I already feel like a better consumer and marketer for having read it.

    Even beyond consumers and marketers, these insights are critical to public health and politics. "hey check out this book" is (at some times) a good response in spirited discussion about all the crazy high-stakes stuff going on - the stuff covered in the book is driving so much of what is going on in the world right now, and how can we have informed discussions about it without self-awareness of that component?
    3 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2020
    The timing is perfect! Both for the context in the scope of the world today as well as in my personal and professional life. I was able to use many of the models while reading and am looking forward to applying more in the coming years. Verdana 11 is now my default font, so that's pretty cool! For me the balance between the theory and application was significant. I have noticed the impact of everything that was addressed both in my life and those around me. Now that individuals are marketing campaign's in and of themselves, the insight to be able to understand how traditional placements and ambiance augmentation can soon be implemented is impressive. I was most intrigued by the ethical implications of deep fakes or avatars and OCEAN. Putting one's data in one's own hands or 'key' for passive income streams of the non-wealthy or to help find like-minded individuals through the creation of boxed avatars has certainly already begun. It seems to have the capability to bring people closer together and increase divides. As Jack Ma and Ray Dalio put it technology should augment our basic functioning to allow for improved quality of life. As is referenced with the quote by JayZ, only when each person is a business, man.
    Customer image
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Matt and Prince have nailed the current marketing landscape

    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2020
    The timing is perfect! Both for the context in the scope of the world today as well as in my personal and professional life. I was able to use many of the models while reading and am looking forward to applying more in the coming years. Verdana 11 is now my default font, so that's pretty cool! For me the balance between the theory and application was significant. I have noticed the impact of everything that was addressed both in my life and those around me. Now that individuals are marketing campaign's in and of themselves, the insight to be able to understand how traditional placements and ambiance augmentation can soon be implemented is impressive. I was most intrigued by the ethical implications of deep fakes or avatars and OCEAN. Putting one's data in one's own hands or 'key' for passive income streams of the non-wealthy or to help find like-minded individuals through the creation of boxed avatars has certainly already begun. It seems to have the capability to bring people closer together and increase divides. As Jack Ma and Ray Dalio put it technology should augment our basic functioning to allow for improved quality of life. As is referenced with the quote by JayZ, only when each person is a business, man.
    Images in this review
    Customer image
    2 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Primer for Neuromarketing
    Reviewed in India on February 6, 2022
    One of those books that I will continue to refer again and again in my lifetime as a Product Manager and a Marketer. Have never highlighted so many lines in a book as I have in this one.

    Must read for all marketers and consumers alike
  • Pedro
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting insights
    Reviewed in Germany on November 4, 2021
    Well written and full of scientific expertise. Very recommendable.
  • ANA
    5.0 out of 5 stars He arrived yesterday, I am very excited
    Reviewed in Brazil on May 8, 2025
    Excellent
  • Jhosue Santos
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great.
    Reviewed in Mexico on February 7, 2022
    The authors did an exceptional job at explaining certain psychology and marketing topics in a sense that you don’t have to be an expert to understand the concepts. Really liked the book.
  • David Jacob
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best introduction to Neuromarketing available
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2021
    This book allowed me to understand the things that I had been piecing together myself for years in far greater depth and clarity. The way the book is broken down means that you build your knowledge from the easily understood to the more complex as you read through, and by the time you finish you'll feel more equipped to engage in further reading around the topic.

    I've read psychology books for years and this is one of the few that doesn't rely on solely pithy stories and actually helps to understand neuroscience from a consumer perspective. A must-read.

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