Best Books Roundups
The Best Marketing
Books Of The
Past Decade
Marketing books were where the Non-Obvious Book Awards began, and across a decade of lists we have honored the very best on branding, persuasion, storytelling and why things catch on. These are the ones that still shape how the best marketers think.
*This list does not include books published in 2026, which are currently under review as part of our 2026 awards program.
The Strategic Enemy
by Laura Ries
Positioning heir Laura Ries argues every great brand needs an enemy: a sharp modern update to the playbook her father helped invent.
This Is Strategy
by Seth Godin
Seth Godin distills a lifetime of thinking into a book about systems, games and time: strategy for people who want to make change happen.
Magic Words
by Jonah Berger
Jonah Berger reveals the specific words that convince, engage and persuade: backed by natural language research on millions of interactions.
For the Culture
by Marcus Collins
Marcus Collins, the strategist behind campaigns for Beyoncé and McDonald’s, on why culture is the most powerful force in marketing, and how brands earn a place in it.
Influence Is Your Superpower
by Zoe Chance
Yale professor Zoe Chance turns her famous MBA course into a warm, science-backed guide to becoming more influential without being manipulative.
The Catalyst
by Jonah Berger
Jonah Berger flips persuasion on its head: stop pushing harder and start removing the barriers that keep people from changing their minds.
Junior
by Thomas Kemeny
Thomas Kemeny’s irreverent, genuinely useful guide to making it in advertising. Our Most Entertaining Book of 2019, and the funniest career book we’ve ever honored.
Stories That Stick
by Kindra Hall
Kindra Hall’s four essential story frameworks for business: the practical bridge between “storytelling matters” and actually doing it.
Alchemy
by Rory Sutherland
Ogilvy vice chairman Rory Sutherland’s gleeful case for magic over logic: why the irrational ideas are so often the ones that work.
This Is Marketing
by Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s modern manifesto: marketing as the generous act of helping people solve their problems: the antidote to interruption-era thinking.
Talk Triggers
by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin
Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin show how to build operational differentiators that customers can’t stop talking about: word of mouth, engineered on purpose.
Hit Makers
by Derek Thompson
Derek Thompson’s science of popularity: why some products and ideas take off while equally good ones vanish. Distribution has never been explained better.
Your Ad Ignored Here
by Tom Fishburne
Marketoonist Tom Fishburne skewers marketing’s absurdities in cartoons that are funny because they’re true, and wiser than most strategy decks.
Small Data
by Martin Lindstrom
Brand detective Martin Lindstrom shows how tiny human clues, like a worn sneaker or a fridge magnet, reveal desires that big data completely misses.
Invisible Influence
by Jonah Berger
Jonah Berger on the hidden social forces that shape every choice we make, including the ones we’re sure we made on our own.
Everybody Writes
by Ann Handley
Ann Handley’s field guide to creating ridiculously good content. Our Most Useful Book winner, and still the standard for anyone who writes for business.
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