This book is about Cayce Pollard (don't fret, he tells you how to pronounce it. . . eventually), a branding consultant, or"coolhunter," who is so physiologically attuned to brands and logos that she has been known to have panic attacks at the sight of Louis Vuitton luggage. Companies and advertisers revere her and hire her to go out into the world and identify the next big trend.
Here is how Cayce reacts when confronted with a mountain of Tommy Hilfiger at a London department store:
My God, don’t they know? This stuff is simulacra of simulacra of simulacra. A diluted tincture of Ralph Lauren, who had himself diluted the glory days of Brooks Brothers, who themselves had stepped on the product of Jermyn Street and Savile Row, flavoring their ready-to-wear with liberal lashings of polo knit and regimental stripes. But Tommy surely is the null point, the black hole. There must be some Tommy Hilfiger event horizon, beyond which it is impossible to be more derivative, more removed from the source, more devoid of soul.
This book is totally hip and suspenseful and will make the three hours you spend in the airport waiting for Continental Airlines to fix its "routine maintenance issue" just fly by.
The last time I begged people to read a book
