Looking back to the early 60s...

[MineralMan]

I'm currently working on the content for a website about using neuroscience research in internet marketing. It has taken some research, of course, and I've put myself through a short course on the current state of that research.

Just today, though, I recalled being a junior in high school, and reading Vance Packard's book, "The Hidden Persuaders." Published in 1956, it blew the cover off the use of psychology and what he called "subliminal advertising." I remember a lot of what was in there, and it has interesting connections to what I'm writing this month.

I just ordered a used copy of the book. I'll be interested to read it again, but with a new perspective. The real question, though, is what was a 16-year-old small town boy doing reading that book? Funny stuff, I think, now that I'm engaged in a related activity.

[onethatcares]

1. "what was a 16 yar old boy......"

you were getting an education and your teachers probably thought the best of you for it.

We didn't have the censors back then, at least not to the point of banning books and not letting us think freely.

and, you didn't have a cell phone/computer that answered questions for you. You actually had to read and think, and think and read somemore.

Yay, TEACHERS!!!!!

[MineralMan]

7. I read constantly back then.

Indiscriminately too. Oddly enough, my wide-ranging reading has served me very well ever since. My teachers just humored me in that. At the time, there was no official self-directed study, but I did it anyway. As long as I got As in all my classes, they just gave me full rein to do as I pleased.

[onethatcares]

10. and that my friend

is what it's all about.

I read constantly too, got books for Christmas, birthdays, anytime anyone need to get rid of some books, they gave them to me.

Today, I still like the feel of paper in my hands as I read. No kindle, no nook, no words on a tablet, screen or anything similar.

What a fine time to be alive in school.

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. My favorite people have always been

Voracious readers. They all have interesting things to talk about. I've worn out two kindles and don't mind reading that way. Through gutenberg.org, I've been able to find many books that are essentially unavailable otherwise.

[FarCenter]

2. How did a 16-year-old small town boy get his hands on that book?

[Hangingon]

3. I go t it from the Dallas Public Library probably about the same time.

[MineralMan]

9. It was a best-seller for some time.

A little over the top and fanciful, but prophetic in many ways. I remember a lot of it generally, but will read it again to compare it with current research, just for my own edification. It has no real relevance to my project, though.

[Hangingon]

15. Several great books that took an industry apart.

[MineralMan]

4. The library.

I was there often. I read voraciously in many areas.

[FarCenter]

6. That would have been my guess. You do seem likely to have had tendencies towards autodidacticism.

[MineralMan]

8. Yup. I was self-directed, starting at a very early age.

It was a small town, and everybody just let me go my own way. I thank them for that.

[Achilleaze]

5. Mr. Subliminal persuades on Dirty Donny & Marla

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-segment---mr-subliminal/n9905?snl=1

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. I read that book a very long time ago, but

I'd be hard pressed to remember exactly when. Perhaps more like the early 70s when I was an adult.

I do recall being quite impressed with it.

And reading a vastly diverse range of topics is always a good idea. Never a bad one.

[MineralMan]

13. There are many broad-spectrum readers on DU.

That's one of the things that keeps me here. In any other setting, I'd never find three people who read that book in less than an hour. Amazing!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Woah! Read that entire book in less than an hour?!

The mind boggles.

[MineralMan]

16. English. I found three people in less than an hour

who had read the book. LOL!

[TuxedoKat]

17. I read it too!!!

Sometime in the late '70s or early '80s when I was pretty young. I still have my original copy and a spare, could have sent you one! I remember looking through mostly cigarette and alcohol magazine ads for hidden words and pictures. The words "sex" and "f--k" were the most prevalent. If you can get some old Playboys or any magazines from the 60's-'70s you can train your eye to find them pretty easily (look in the neck area).

I'm a long-time voracious reader too. There weren't many kids' books in our house when I was growing up so I just read whatever I could lay my hands on -- the encyclopedia, religious books, magazines, parents' text or other books. Libraries were a godsend to me.

[MineralMan]

18. I just ordered a used copy from a bookseller.

It will be interesting to read it again, 50+ years later.