The Battle for Your Mind
by Al Ries
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American entrepreneur, investor
Recommended by 8 notable people, including Ev Williams and Sophie Bakalar
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See customer reviews on Amazon →Witty and fast-paced, Positioning feels like a marketing memo about planting a simple, memorable place for a brand in a skeptical, mediablitzed public's mind. Its useful core is a set of portable heuristics for choosing a single message that reflects your strengths and concedes competitors' claims. The book leans on ad-era examples and blunt prescriptions, so parts read repetitive or anchored to pre-digital media. Take away crisp headline rules, but expect to adapt them heavily for social and digital channels.
This summary and audience guidance are AI-generated from the book's description and its recommendation history, last updated May 2026. Recommendations, quotes and sources elsewhere on this page come from published material and are not generated.
The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, mediablitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mindone that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fastpaced style, a...
Difficulty:hard
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View available editions on AmazonWhy recommended
Recommended by 10 sources and appears in Best Startup Books, Marketing, and Most Recommended Books.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
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Consider Give and Take by Adam Grant. Recommended by 30 sources.
“A research-heavy exploration of how reciprocity styles—givers, takers, and matchers—shape professional success. Grant uses stories from business, sports, and entertainment to argue that selfless givers can rise to the top if they avoid burnout and exploitation. The book is densely packed with studies, which makes it convincing but sometimes overwhelming. Useful for understanding networking through a generous lens, though the sheer volume of examples may feel like a barrage. Annoying if you want fewer anecdotes and more actionable steps.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
