Review: Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today

Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving the Big Disruptions Today by Mark Penn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another reviewer wrote that a futurist book like this is a kind of time capsule, highlighting the topics that are top of mind during the time period when the book was written, and often focused on the author’s interests. This seems true here. The author, from both the political and tech realms, provides some interesting food for thought on trends in these areas. He also provides interesting analysis on trends in other areas, especially social and health. The author writes dozens of chapters, all on different topics. I appreciated the organization, which made it easier to follow. I had read the author’s earlier “Microtrends” book, written more than a decade ago, just a couple of years ago. I found the author’s take on future trends interesting then as well, but I noted that he had missed a few, like cloud computing. Here he changes tune to correct that mis-prediction. Feels more correct now, making me wonder if just the opposite will happen.

I’ve always found these type of futurist books, covering a wide variety of topics, are great food for thought when doing long term planning. The analysis, and often odd choice of topics, helps creativity, and reminds that not everything happens using straight line projections. You can sense some of the prose seems very pro conservative, and other seems just the opposite. Quite interesting to follow the author’s reasoning. You can also see the author’s suggestions as to making elections better, written after the 2016 elections and reflecting what I believe was the liberal thought at the time, now reads like the post-2020 election conservative viewpoint. Talk about a time capsule.

I listened to this on audio. There are a large number of chapters on different topics. I found it a little hard to keep track what was being discussed, but this was not a huge problem, just something to look out for when listening – this may require more attention than some audiobooks. I also note that the author quotes from a prodigious number of sources. This includes quotes as well as statistical information. On audio, this can be difficult to listen to and follow, and this is probably a good reason to recommend the print/ebook versions if you have great interest in these topics.


View all my reviews