Mircotrends: Surprising Tales of the Way We Live Today (Mark J. Penn & E. Kinney Zalesne, 2007)

Microtrends is a non-fiction book that presents 75 different trends that are currently happening in America, and attempts to show that these trends, of 1% of the population, could mean big things for the future of politics, culture or society. Author Penn has been a pollster for various world leaders, including Bill Clinton, and he clearly knows what he’s talking about.

The trends are split into different categories including Relationships, Technology and International, and each Microtrend Penn identifies is given about 4 pages of analysis, including graphs and tables. All of the trends are backed up by polling data and Penn makes some convincing arguments. Inevitably, of the 75 trends some are more interesting than others, while some are just odd. There are Late-Breaking Gays, men who come out later in life in bigger numbers than before, Knitting Teenagers who are bucking the techno, online trend, and LATs, couples who Live Together Apart in two houses rather than sharing a common home.

I picked up the book not realising that it concentrated on US trends, so I was a little disappointed in that respect, but many of the Microtrends are applicable to UK living, and there are the occasional sidebar and 15 final chapters on international variants or specific international trends. Penn’s thesis that Microtrends are changing the face and values of the (US) electorate is persuasive, and the evidence he uses provides much food for thought.