Мегатренды. Как предсказывать грядущие тенденции и видеть то, что упускают другие

by Rohit Bhargava, Рохит Бхаргава

Рохит Бхаргава – основатель Influential Marketing Group, специалист по трендам, спикер TEDx, футурист и консультант по вопросам брендинга. В последнем переиздании его культовой книги вас ждут 5 ключевых типов мышления, необходимых для того, чтобы предсказывать тренды, 10 главных тенденций, которые сформируют следующее десятилетие, а также размышление о том, какие последствия они будут иметь для культуры, бизнеса, карьеры и всего человечества.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Society, Economics, Management

288 pages, Hardcover

Published June 22, 2021

About the author

Rohit Bhargava is a leading authority on marketing, trends and innovation. He is the founder of the Non-Obvious Company and is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original keynote speakers on marketing disruption and innovation in the world. He is the #1 WSJ and USA TODAY bestselling author of eight books on topics as wide ranging as the future of business, building a human brand with personality, and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world. Rohit is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and writes a monthly column for GQ Brazil. He is married and lives with his wife and two boys in the Washington DC area, loves the Olympics and actively hates cauliflower.

Reviews

[Deepak Gulati · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's title is bit of a hyperbole. "Somewhat Obvious Trends" doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Non Obvious Megatrends", but it does sum up my impression of the book accurately. Still, worth one read, if nothing else, for another perspective on a trend you might've already spotted. The author also shares his method for collating and organising trends (he's been at it for 10 years) which I found quite useful.

[Eslam الغني · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some books that were written to disturb their own readers and are for sure futile for readers in the Arab world and similar geographical areas . Here is one of the great examples.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, good for engaging in the trends happening w humans and see if you identify or recognize them or not. Sparks ideas and conversation.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite liked this book. More accurately, I really liked the first three chapters of this book, which is about the first third of it. The second two thirds was more like fluff that I could well live without. Perhaps I should explain?

I bought this book for the methodology of trend hunting that is described in the first three chapters. This is a very good description of how we can uncover important trends that aren't too readily evident. In the language of the Three Horizons model, this is all about spotting H3 trends whilst they are buried in an H1 world. That is of some importance to me.

The first chapter is about developing a mindset through which you can spot non-obvious trends. The author suggests developing five key mindsets:
1. Be observant - see what others miss.
2. Be fickle - learn to not to dwell upon a single data point.
3. Be elegant - craft beautiful ideas.
4. Be thoughtful - take time to think.
5. Be curious - always ask why.
The author uses these five mindsets to underpin the collection and sorting of data as part of the trend building process. To this collection of mindsets, I would add another: Be insightful - look for the inner workings rather than the surface manifestations.

The second chapter goes on to consider the method of data aggregation. He calls his method the Haystack Method because he stacks all of the data points and scans into a heap, and then makes sense of it. There are five steps in the process:
1. Gathering - save interesting ideas.
2. Aggregating - curate information clusters.
3. Elevating - identify broader themes.
4. Naming - create elegant descriptions.
5. Proving - validate without bias.
Each of these steps is expanded upon to provide a 'how to' guide. I found it to be quite useful in helping me to think about how we should go about sorting the mass of data inputs we receive all the time.

That led on, quite naturally, to the third chapter - how to apply this non-obvious thinking. Once again, there was a model to help the reader to engage in intersection thinking. There are four steps this time, which are:
1. Focus on similarities.
2. Embrace serendipitous ideas.
3. Wander into the unfamiliar.
4. Be persuadable.
The model was being a bit pat at this point, but I stayed with it.

From there on, the book went into a grouping of non-obvious trends. They are at the FMCG end of the market, so really didn't interest me at all. I find the idea of fast moving fashion trend spotting as a bit shallow. I appreciate that it exists, but I like my time scales to cover decades rather than weeks. However, each to their own. It just meant that the second two thirds of the book wasn't for me.

There is only one purpose for a 'how to' book and that is to improve one's practice, in this case of trend spotting. I quite liked the model, so I thought that I would give it a go for a few years, just to see if it's any good. I have undertaken similar activities in the past, but they tended to be focussed on specific projects. I have yet to try the trend curation for an unstructured purpose, so this is new territory for me. I have started to set up my haystack. I am gathering unstructured data points that interest me, and we will see how it all turns out.

If you are thinking about undertaking some horizon scanning and trend curation, but don't quite know how to go about it, then this book is a good starting point. It has a coherent model, an easy to understand step by step process, and it will get you to where you want to be. For that reason, I would recommend the book.

[Outdoors Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot I read this in January, I picked it up again to see if any of the predictions were still valid in the covid era; apart from not having foresight about the extraordinary uptake in video communication, the author did pretty well.

I specifically bought this edition for the trend hunting methodology Rohit shares in the first three chapters. I was assessing idea stage startup investment opportunities at the time and it proved to be an invaluable resource. It helped to develop a trend hunting mindset as well as detailing processes and tools to use.

The second third details the authors trend predictions, which is an interesting read as he details his understanding of the causes, not just the predicted effect. The final third of the book (bravely to my mind) summarises predictions from previous editions.

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the culmination of ten years work and it feels like it. It reads like a report on reports. Which is exactly what it is. If you've followed the books for the past ten years, you might have a gut feeling to what is in this book. Bhargava takes the insights from tens years of insights and condenses them down into the overall themes he's found. While you read it, you feel like you already know what he's saying, you just don't have a word for it. Bhargava names the trends you unconsciously are aware of and brings them to the forefront of your mind. Ultimately, is this book revolutionary? No. But it names the revolutions that are already happening.

[Pavel Annenkov · Rating 3 out of 5]

О ЧЕМ КНИГА:
Взгляд на самые мощные тренды ближайшего десятилетия от автора ежегодного альманаха про тренды. Книга интересна для упражнения мозга и размышлений о том, как оценивать изменения вокруг. Многие тренды, которые выбрал автор как мегатренды, очень спорные. Ему конечно еще далеко до Кевина Келли и Питера Диамандиса. Наверное самое ценное в книге то, что в начале нам простыми словами объясняют, как искать новые тренды. Книга больше для маркетолога, чем для владельца бизнеса.

ГЛАВНАЯ МЫСЛЬ КНИГИ:
- «Я встречалась с тысячами людей и это удивительно, как много из них упускают возможности учиться новому» - Кэрол Двек
Любопытство и желание узнавать новое - важнейшие качества современного предпринимателя, который хочет вдолгую сохранить свой бизнес.

ЗАЧЕМ ЧИТАТЬ ЭТУ КНИГУ?
Вдохновить себя на изучение новых бизнес-трендов и изучить несколько из них.

МЫСЛИ И ВЫВОДЫ ИЗ КНИГИ:
5 установок человека, который хочет неочевидно мыслить:
- Быть наблюдательным и замечать то, что не видят другие.
- Быть любопытным.
- Находить время на спокойное обдумывание важных вопросов.
- Не привязываться к идеям и бизнесам, а двигаться дальше.
- Быть креативным.

- Когда хотите разобраться сами в новом тренде, возьмите и объясните его маленьким детям)

- Интересный подход - читать иногда журналы из необычных для меня областей, например, фэшн глянец, спорт или фермерство. Можно посмотреть на мир под другим углом.

- Замечать неочевидные события и тренды вокруг себя - это навык, который можно развить. Кажется, что это один из важнейших навыков современного предпринимателя. Как говорил Питер Тиль - «Задавайте себе всё время вопрос - «Какую ценную компанию никто сейчас не строит?»»

- Автор напомнил про подходы работы с информацией от Айзека Азимова. Напомню, что Азимов написал за свою жизнь около 500 книг) Азимов как то сказал - «Я не работаю над скоростью чтения. Я работаю над скоростью понимания».

ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ:
- Хорошее напоминание про то, что важно устраивать себе «день обдумывания». Надо выбрать день на неделе, когда я буду отключаться на полдня, чтобы обдумать важные вопросы. Раньше так делал регулярно, но в последние пару лет забросил этот подход.

ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Кевин Келли «Неизбежно»

[Max Lapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книги про мегатренды — один из моих любимых жанров, потому что они классифицируют крупные течения нашей жизни, которые мы не всегда замечаем, будучи погруженными в детали.

Рохит Бхаргава каждый год выпускает альманах-обзор текущих мегатрендов. В нем десяток глав. И Рохит является гуру этой тематики. Немного с уклоном в диджитал. Но все в нашем мире становится диджитал.

Так что если в 2020 вам надоело читать про ковид, то вот вам Рохит. https://maxlapin.com/2020/11/13/b285/

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful

This book covers a ton of ideas, but does so in a convict and even pithy way. It is a premium example of insight: revealing the ideas that make up the spine of the situation, making lines out of many data points. If you’re interested in innovation or the near future then I highly recommend this book.

[Aaron Mikulsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won't go into Bhargava’s Megatrends here, but I suggest you check out his signature annual Non-Obvious Trend Report that has helped over a million readers discover trends changing our culture over the past 15 years. Here are some pragmatic items I took away from this book:

Seeing what no one else sees is often described as creativity, and we live in a world that celebrates it. But finding the solution to a particularly tricky problem or discovering a world-changing idea takes more than creativity.

Isaac Asimov earned the reputation of “the man who knows everything” by writing nearly 500 books in his prolific lifetime. He is most widely known for his ground-breaking work in science fiction, but he also wrote everything from an illustrated children’s guide to dinosaurs to a comprehensive two-volume guide to The Bible. Asimov credited his creative thinking to his legendary appetite for reading and learning about everything he could from a young age. “I am not a speed reader,” he once said. “I am a speed understander.”

It’s hard to imagine following Asimov’s recipe for understanding in today’s world. We are inundated by content, and most of it is not good. Digital tools have made it easy for everyone to share ideas, even if they are one-dimensional or idiotic. To face this landslide of bad content, we are increasingly relying on a combination of algorithms and one-dimensional opinions shared on social media to help us filter the noise. And we’ve pioneered new methods of skimming out of sheer desperation. We watch television at accelerated speed, use speed-reading apps that flash a single word at a time, and turn to productivity gurus specializing in “time hacking.”

Be Intentional: None of these solutions work for long. The problem is that expecting to get smarter from processing content faster is a bit like entering a speed-eating contest to enjoy a good meal. Eating 26 hot dogs in 60 seconds might satisfy your hunger, but you’re likely to feel sick afterwards. You can’t understand the world better simply by reading about it as much as possible. You do so by being intentional about what you pay attention to in the first place.
What if you could become a life-long learner, curious about the world and able to see, understand, and expect things others miss?
What if you could use that skill to understand patterns, spot intersections, and see around the corner to develop an observation of what the future might hold?
What if, once you put all the pieces together, you could actually learn to predict the future?

The 5 Mindsets of Non-Obvious Thinkers:
Be observant - pay attention to the world. Notice the details.
Be curious - Ask questions, invest in learning, and approach unfamiliar situations with a sense of wonder. Consume “brainful media,” content and experiences that fuel your curiosity and make you think. Watch an engaging TED Talk, read a book on a topic you know little about, or attend a lecture on an unusual topic. Read unfamiliar magazines, and ask questions constantly.
Be fickle - save interesting ideas for later consumption. Save ideas / notes offline in an ideas folder.
Be thoughtful - Take time to develop a meaningful point of view, and consider alternative viewpoints. The internet is sadly filled with useless, biased, half-thought-out comments and uninformed opinions. Being thoughtful is harder to do when the priority seems to be responding quickly, regardless of what you have to say. To be more thoughtful, we need to remind ourselves to take a moment and consider the divergent thoughts of those around us.
Be elegant - Describe ideas or insights in more beautiful, deliberate, simple, and understandable ways. Simplicity is fundamental to being elegant in how we express ourselves. When you eliminate unnecessary words, you can distill your ideas and make them easier to understand. For example, poets use metaphors, imagery, alliteration, and other tools to express emotion and meaning in their writing.

A trend is a curated observation of the accelerating present. Good trends always focus on the shift in an underlying human behavior or belief.

The Haystack Method for curating non-obvious ideas starts with gathering stories and ideas and sorting them into groups that make sense (the hay), then analyzing each of the groups to see whether they reveal an underlying trend (the needle). There are five steps:
Gathering - Start a folder, set a timeline, and seek concepts, not conclusions. Perspective often comes from the passage of time and the patience to allow patterns to emerge on their own.
Aggregating - the process of grouping ideas together to uncover bigger themes. Once you’ve gathered ideas, you’ll need to identify how they connect to one another. What broad group or demographic do these stories describe?
Elevating - involves identifying the underlying themes that align a group of ideas to describe a single, bigger concept. Consider these questions: What interests you most about this group of ideas? What implications of the stories might you have missed earlier? What is the broader theme that these stories have in common? How can you link stories from multiple industries into a single idea? As you review your groups of ideas and stories, look for keywords that can reveal the common themes among them. When you recognize idea clusters, look for industry-specific clusters to combine with it.
Naming - is the art of describing a collection of ideas in an accessible and memorable way. A great name should convey the trend’s meaning with simplicity and be memorable. How well you name your trend will make it either stick in people’s minds and stand out—or be quickly forgotten.
Proving - entails seeking out data, stories, and conversations to validate whether a collection of ideas can justifiably be described as a trend. You can evaluate trends using a framework of three key elements: the core idea of the trend, its impact, and its acceleration. For ideas, ask, is the idea unique enough to stand out? Has anyone published research related to this trend idea? Use authoritative sources. Proving will yield better results if you have sought out authoritative sources to support your trend ideas. In practice, this means gathering stories from reputable media sources, organizations, or academic institutions.

Trends might offer a signal that you should consider abandoning an existing product line or staying the course in a direction that hasn’t paid off yet. Or they could suggest that you should pivot the focus of your career to learn new skills. What gives you the power to receive these signals and reach these conclusions is intersection thinking, a method for connecting disparate concepts and beliefs from unrelated industries to generate new ideas or products. There are four ways to engage in intersection thinking effectively:
Focus on similarities.
Embrace serendipitous ideas.
Wander into the unfamiliar.
Be persuadable.

[Angel Grimalt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it by chunks, the most valuable part is the methodology he shares on how he does his spotting and defines trends. The rest are somehow "obvious" trends, but signals that he have gather are of high quality from the weak to the strong signal spectrum. Read it digital format, not worth the paperback. In 2023, it might be outdated.

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to read and contemplate! Thank you, Rohit for doing what you do.

[Book Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rohit Bhargava understands that today’s actions significantly impact the kind of future we have as human beings. In his informative book, Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, the author vastly talks about the present, emerging trends, technology, economics, governance and politics, policymaking, the environment, and the status quo. Rohit Bhargava has classified his inspirational book into 3 sections; the Art of Non Obvious Thinking, where he discusses the outlook and approach of non-obvious thinking and concepts, Non obvious megatrends in section two, and previous trends reports on the last section. The second section has highlighted megatrends discussed in-depth, and part 3 analyzes prior trends.

You will get futuristic ideas in this book and learn how to build an empire by going through Rohit Bhargava’s methods. The author shares different methods of operation that one can use to achieve their set goals. One of the significant lessons I learned from this book is that nothing is unachievable. Major trends today were once small ideas started by creative minds that put the work in to transform them. While discussing current and megatrends, the author uses real-life examples and expounds on how specific trends have worked. Reading this book will expose you to daily happenings that you probably overlook. He also gives concrete advice on a dozen current trends.

In Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, Rohit Bhargava gets the reader to fall in love with new trends. Cultural trends, entrepreneurial trends, tech, and new systems. The author talks about attention being the most treasured resource in the information economy. The author uses examples from various countries in Europe and the Middle East to show how attention is valuable.

Rohit Bhargava includes personal stories and past experiences to make his content easy to follow. I love that he engages with the reader in different ways, one being pausing to ask readers questions and creating hypothetical situations for the reader to think about. The author is insightful, rational, practical, clear with his agenda, and inspiring.

Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, is the book you need if you are in charge of strategic business planning, are an entrepreneur, or looking for the best marketing strategies out there right now. The fantastic content in the book will help you see the world for what it is, and not the illusion that is sold by some.

[ReadnMarked · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 - "𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗢𝗯𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗴𝗮 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀" 𝗯𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗮

“𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝘀.”

This was the first time I picked a book by Rohit Bhargava and man I was not disappointed. “Non-Obvious Megatrends” by Rohit Bhargava teaches readers how to identify trends and shares ten revolutionary megatrends! The first third of the book explains his methodology in detail, something that can be used by anyone for the trend predictions in future. I especially loved this part of the book the most.

“𝗚𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴.”

Since this year is the 10th anniversary of the Non-Obvious series, the book in the second -third portion looked back at all the trend predictions and grades the accuracy of each one. It was a fascinating read because I was amazed at the number of trends Rohit was able to predict. This read for me further proved the efficacy of the first third of the book and, I will surely revisit that concept once more to be able to apply it in my life.

“𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿.”

The book is extremely easy to read with lots of captivating stories highlighting each trend. Rohit and his team have done a great job in coming up with trends that are very practical and offer advice on how to capitalize on each one.

If you’re interested in learning about the world around you and, want to become a pro in reading into the signs, this book would be a perfect read for you. I will for sure read his other books too in future.

My Rating - 4.5/5

[Nikita Kotsehub · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book offers an overview of how to identify trends before most people recognize them and provides a bunch of examples of trends the author has identified in the past. If you want to identify trends, the first step is to be more attentive - pay attention to what people are complaining about, and what patterns and stories keep appearing over and over. Then, make sure to save those stories - have a "corkboard", an actual or a virtual one, where you pin everything you find interesting, even if it's not yet obvious how it relates to a larger trend. Once you accumulate enough of those, some connections will start to make sense. Also, look for analogies across other industries, countries, and products - they can often indicate upcoming trends. Overall, the challenging part with identifying trends isn't the methodology but the execution -it's reminding yourself to keep being curious and attentive and save interesting thoughts and ideas. I also appreciated the author including examples of failed predictions - trends that turned to be too short-lived or didn't realize. Overall, an easy and entertaining read - it's also fun to try to apply those techniques and then try to make some stock market bets to get your skin in the game on the trends you predict :)

[Sara Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've had a chance to read any of Bhargava's Non Obvious books in the past, I'd personally say you can skip this one. If you're new to the Non Obvious trends, it may be worth your time. I had opportunity to read the 2018 Non Obvious Trends, and felt incredibly disappointed with the Megatrends. The first section felt like it was a direct lift from the 2018 book, with no new content, stories, observations or insights. The Megatrends at this point are not non obvious, but are evolutions of the trends. Does that not make them obvious? Trends that have been developing and iterating since 2011 are not new trends, and slapping a new made up name to them doesn't make them new or non obvious. It just gives the author the opportunity to regurgitate more of the same and sell more books.

Disappointed. For this reason, struggled to keep my attention to finish this book. Finally committed to completing it, just to get it off my currently reading list.

[Devanshi Sanghani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed reading this book because it was soo crisp and clear about how to start thinking about non obvious ideas and how to locate a trend which may or may not be successful in the future.

I have enjoyed very few Non-Fiction books because I feel that sometimes Non-Fiction books speak one and the same thing over and over again. This book had every perspective, every story, every idea different from the page one to the end page.

Author has also used charts and have given amazing examples and real life stories about the trends that have set in and are on the peak. Author has also used photos where ever they were needed for a better understanding.

This book basically targets on the improvement of an individual and it’s entity.

If you love to create content, or are an entrepreneur or have a business and want to make a brand image, do read this book because it will teach you how to curate ideas, choose the best ones from them and apply it correctly to turn it into a trend.

[Po · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect resource to feed your curiosity

Though this is the first book I’ve read of Bhargava after hearing him speak for the National Society of Leadership & Success, it certainly isn’t going to be my last. Love that he splits the book into three sections: teaching us how to master the art of non-obvious thinking, then sharing his trends for 2020, and finally reflecting back on past trends to see how those trends have evolved. The first section alone is worth reading as he lists actionable steps on how to nourish and sustain your curiosity. Surprised to hear this is the last of its series, but hopeful that more people will be on their journey of growth mindset with the help of his books.

[William H Verhelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

More Marketing Tactical Trend Ideas; Less Business Strategy

Perhaps my expectations were off. I anticipated more technology analysis, more business model and business strategy analysis, and perhaps more deep analysis of changes in customer preferences. Instead, I found this book to be more of a tactical brainstorming guide for a middle-level marketing professional seeking a variety of relatively simplistic new market-positioning ideas.

The relatively simplistic strategies in the first two chapters (have a growth mindset, etc.) appear designed to include some analytical framework in a book otherwise dominated by simple, disjointed market-positioning ideas.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

For information junkies who have information stored in all sorts of places from bookmarks, OneNote type apps, and stuck on post its across their desk, Non-Obvious Mega Trends outlines a system that looks at a whole new way to aggregate and categorize your collection. Bhargava provides examples from his past trend spotting to show you how he defines his different methods, and their genesis from curated ideas to a named trend. I especially liked his example of the steps his team took in getting to the title of Engineered Addiction to describe the combination of addictive design, gaming, and engineered foods.

Thanks to Hidden Gems Books for a digital copy for review.

[Mukesh Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understanding the Worldview

Understanding what is happening around us and doing so in a deep way is critical for us to do well in that environment. What Rohit does in this book is paint a vivid picture of the world that we live in and what seems to matter in this world. He doesn’t stop there but also shares his expertise on how we overselves can understand the world around us better through his “Haystack Method”

What this book has done for me is to help me understand the world around me, which is a great first step in my process of evolution!!

[Krysti Kois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really didn’t hold my attention the way I thought it would. The beginning section where he talks about how he organizes topics reminded me forcefully of how I group things in Pinterest. Next, he goes into a lengthy description of why he chooses things and how some don’t work out. By the time I got to the review of the past ten years of trends, I was so over the rambling, that I mostly skimmed them, just looking for things had hadn’t been a trend.
I am glad that I had a chance to read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book from Rohit Bhargava. I read his Non-Obvious
Trends every year but this year is the Non-Obvious Mega Trends.
He shares his methods, gives you clear examples and proves out his thinking so you can see where he is drawing his theories from for every trend.
It's a great book for getting a handle on the big societal influences that will matter to us over the next 5ish years. And it's top of the New York Best Seller list for business books!

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whether you use this book to help you in a business or not, it is definitely a good way to see what's coming. The author explains that by reading outside your usual focus and hanging onto ideas that strike you, you can begin to see a pattern or theme and how those ideas connect into an upcoming trend. He also takes you back through his past predictions and how they did or not come to fruition.

(I received this book in a goodreads giveaway.)

[Frank Gamba · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good choice if you are new to the world of business.
The way in which the book is printed and it's page layout make me thing that this is more a get-income object than a book. Honestly, the part one of three is the only one interesting since it explains how the author identify a trend. The rest of the book speak about those trends that are well known for people like me who likes to be constantly updated on the evolution of business and startups.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent book about potential future trends. It even includes trends from Bhargava's previous books and how good his predictions were. I really liked that the human element was always considered as well as the impact of businesses.

It wasn't what I expected, and I really hated the format of this book, so it's 4 stars from me.

[Sarah Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for more than the predictions

While the mega trends are certainly interesting to look at, one of the best parts is the section that comes before it about non obvious thinking. A great read!

[Erik Rostad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read these Non Obvious series of books for the past 4 years. They offer tons of insight and I have incorporated the ideas into my own business and into discussions with my clients. Highly recommended.

[Peter Monien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read for all who are interested in larger trends to have a better understanding of where we are heading. Very useful for all who want to understand these trends, tap into them or invent something new based on these trends.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book because the subject matter is fascinating. It’s building onto the concept of inflection points and getting ahead of the curve. However, between the constant typos and grammatical errors and the obvious political and social bias the author had, just ruined the experience.