In this case, the future is a book -- 2011: Trendspotting for the Next Decade by Richard Laermer, author of Trendspotting, Punk Marketing and the mastermind behind the Bad Pitch Blog. You can get your electronic edition free right now by visiting FreeBabyFree.
As you might have guessed from its title, 2011 is a trends book. Laermer's starting premise is that this decade, the 10 years kicked-off by the 9/11 attacks, has been little more than a waiting period marked by prevalent mediocrity. But that the 'big things' that we've all been waiting for will hit on or around the year 2011 -- so, as business people, we had better get ready.
Don't read this book expecting to find lots of starry eyed visions of space colonies or Jetsons-style jetpacks. Really, who has time for that kind of thing anymore?
Instead, Laermer focuses on near-in trends. Trends that are bubbling just below the surface. The kinds of trends that are ripe for the picking (to mix a metaphor) and just might impact how we live and work, come the year 2011. In fact, Laermer presents so many trends that he has spotted -- more than 50 if I counted correctly -- that I'd be shocked if we don't look back at this book a few years from now and think, "Crap, Laermer is a modern day Nostradamus... sans beard, pointy hat and all that doom and gloom stuff." Even if he has only nailed a few, it would be pretty impressive.
If anything, it is the sheer volume of ideas and the breakneck pace at which Laermer lays them out that maybe makes the book a little daunting. You can open the book to almost any page and glean something useful or insightful. Trust me, there are plenty of gems between the two covers. Laermer tackles everything from business, communications etiquette and media to aging, sexuality and of course technology (yup, you can expect to see more new technology buy don't expect to be as impressed with it as you used to be; and you know all this social networking stuff that has us all lathered up? Laermer thinks it might be a bunch of hooey.) All in all, if you're in the media or marketing industries -- or any industry that is affected by change (e.g., any industry at all) -- 2011 offers at least a few ideas to get you thinking.
But reading it from end-to-end is a bit of a chore.
I confessed this to Richard, who has been jonesing for my review (McGraw-Hill sent me an advance copy months ago), and he pointed out that this is the very reason the publisher has agreed to distribute a free e-book edition. This is most likely the first time a major publisher has gone this route, but I think it's a smart and calculated gamble -- that you'll read a few e-chapters for free, and like what you see enough to invest in a plain old hard copy that you can dog-ear and mark-up for future reference.
Taking a page out of Laermer's book, I figure it's worth keeping an eye on whether or not other major publishers go the free-book route. One or two more experiments, and we might be looking at a trend.
