Trendspotting

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 25 FEB 2002

Laermer, who worked as a reporter in the '80s and made money promoting dotcoms in the '90s, reads the media, adapts nimbly to cultural change and has knocked off an unoriginal if funny little tome on what to expect in the coming years. Although his previous books (Native's Guide to New York; Bargain Hunting in Greater New York) were relatively slight research projects, this work is more ambitious and comprehensive. Its thesis is not novel: the beginning of the 2000s will become a decade of increasingly rapid technological advances that branch into all areas of life (frequently for commercial gain) and intensifying convenience-driven social isolation. He covers technology (predicting remote-controlled everything), spirituality ("traditions are going to change and fast"), the workplace ("entrepreneurs will have to learn what a good business model really is") and the environment ("environmentally friendly products will be more and more ubiquitous"), ending with the cover-story-formula, titled "Ten Ways to be a trendSpotter." Laermer includes predictions from heavy hitters like Kurt Andersen and Jeffrey Zucker, who muse about media saturation, Internet porn and more, and wrings sound-bite pronouncements from their East Coast circuit lips (e.g., Zucker's take on media saturation: "quality, at the end of the day, really cuts through"). His anecdotal tangents display an appealing enthusiasm and wit. But despite Laermer's undeniable charm and childlike sweetness, the future his experienced Manhattanite eyes see is eerily dark in its cynicism.