When Your Life Hits Rock Bottom, Dream Up a 'Pet Rock'

As we wind down the year, let's look back (and take inspiration) from 'the greatest entrepreneur of all time.' Plus, 7 other thing worth a click.

Amazon says the hottest selling present is currently a hardcover picture book that came out in 2015. A few months ago, I heard it was going to be gift cards.

It wasn’t always like this, for better or worse. There was a time when a single product could achieve popularity that seemed both cult-like and widespread at the same time.

You know the things I’m talking about: Cabbage Patch Kids, and the original Star Wars toys, and of course … the Pet Rock.

Bibulous inspiration

The year was... well, we are informed only that it was sometime in the "mid-'70s."

A man named Gary Dahl was hanging out in a Northern California bar. The drinkers' talk turned to pets, and Dahl shared that he had the easiest, best pet of all time: a rock.

With such a feat of "bibulous inspiration," as the New York Times described it, Dahl came up with what would become an icon of the decade: the Pet Rock (price: $3.95, which would be about $19.12 today.

The genius was in the packaging. Each Pet Rock came in a cardboard carryi…