I believe I posted the trailer when it came out, but I just wanted to mention that James Othmer’s Adland comes out today. The book is a great survey of the changing world of advertising, as told through the experiences and travels of James, who did his time in the trenches at several prestigious agencies “back in the day,” and then left to write a great book called The Futurist This, incidentally, is how Benjamin and I got hooked up with James – over a year ago, he wrote to us talking about his next project. The Futurist was a book that Benjamin had read and then passed on to me – this happens from time to time (other works in the past have included Alex Garland’s A Coma, Tibor Fischer’s The Collector Collector and Max Berry’s Jennifer Government, for those who are literarily curious) and so we were excited to talk to him. We’ve checked in on him and he’s checked in on us as the year progressed, and he sent us an advance copy at the beginning of the summer, so we’ve had a chance to read it.

It’s a great read, and James makes us look wicked smart, which we especially appreciate. Even if you excised the entire chapter about us, though, I’d still strongly recommend this book – it’s a great survey of the changing landscape of advertising. For those of us in “the biz” this is all stuff we know, but James does a great job capturing it with wit and clarity. It’s also a cathartic read, since we all wrestle with our profession with some regularity, and it’s a topic not often touched upon outside of depressing blog comment areas. And I’m sure all of our significant others are sick of hearing us talk about it. James lends us a sympathetic ear.

Anyway, check it out. I say this in an entirely complimentary way when I reassure you that it’s not a deep theory book, it’s not a prognostication of the future or yet another pundit looking to “establish expertise” so they can become a consultant. It’s from the heart, and it shows.