These books will help you understand -- and navigate -- marketing, branding and advertising in our TiVo-charged, Internet-fueled, "post-television" age:

Buzzmarketing

Life After the 30-Second Spot

Nobrow

Mediated

The Conquest of Cool

Trendspotting

Need to brush up on your copywriting? Check out these books to master advertising's written words:

The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman

The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert W. Bly

How to Write Great Copy by Dominic Gettins

Steal Thunder, a brand-development company in California, writes a blog about "brand moves that get our attention." Here one of the partners writes about inspiring branding from, well, not exactly the world's sexiest retailer: "So I enter the local Smart&Final and have to walk past the checkout, and as I glance up I see the little tagline on the checker's LCD, right where it pays to be reminded: 'The Smaller, Faster Warehouse Store.' So many of the companies we work with struggle to position themselves simply. They want to get to that nirvana of 'one simple, repeatable idea' that not only sets them apart from everyone else, but helps the right customers love them." Read the entire post here.

Naming and branding expert Nancy Friedman, this week's guest contributor to our Candlepower section, sent us these book recommendations:

The Making of a Name: The Inside Story of the Brands We Buy, by Steve Rivkin and Fraser Sutherland: A thorough, highly readable survey of name types, the name-development process, and the naming business.

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Steve Hall, the founder of the must-read advertising industry blog Adrants suggests these blogs about copywriting and ad creativity:

American Copywriter

AdLand

CoolzOr

Random Culture

Writing that catchy slogan getting you down? Can't conjure the name of the doohickey your client's marketing? Will the following sites help? Well, not really, but they're fun to check out:

The Advertising Slogan Generator

Name-O-Rama

Random Surrealism Generator

Which ads zing, which ones tank? These industry insiders blog on creativity in advertising, and much more.

CoolzOr

Chimp Media Monitoring

Glossy

KF ADvertising