Benefit from Jim Cramer's wisdom. Read what he reads.

Jim Cramer Mentions Microtrends on his October 18, 2007 show

Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes by by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne is a tour de force of 75 "Micro" trends Mark sees occurring in society. Having almost completed the book, I also recommend it.

Instead of spending a lot of time telling you about the book, since you can see the table of contents inside this book with the AmazonOnlineReader, I would instead like to say two things in response to some negative reviews seen around the web.

First, it is clear people don't understand pollsters. Adventuresome pollsters don't simply measure reality, they try to look ahead, into the future of man's wants, needs, and fears. A pollster formulates or articulates a lot of theories, throwing them out into the public to see which ones resonate. Just as a musician doesn't permanently record every group of new notes she puts together as a song, a pollster doesn't expect every microtrend to become a movement. A few will do just fine.

Second, I find it remarkable that when people believe they see their devil, they stop seeing reality the way it is. If your devil is Jello, you scream when someone jiggles it in front of you. If death-by-vehicle is your devil, you hug the building wall while walking down the street and cross the street with mortification. And if the devil is liberals (or conservatives), then you shut off your mind and spout things you hear on radio, on television or in sermons. Mark Penn is probably a liberal, having worked for one Clinton or another for over ten years....but it doesn't mean he is the devil. Try this once to not see the devil. Or know that even the devil can teach you something if you are on your guard. You won't be sorry.

This is a three bibliogasm book (out of a possible four).

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