Nothing tickles a journalist more than being first to report disaster.
Often, though, they prove to be phony catastrophes that loom for awhile, then skulk away. But to cry wolf when there is indeed a real wolf is when a writer shows his worth, like a pitcher with a nice hop on his fastball. So when award-winning Business Week editor Michael Mandel saw Nasdaq's cargo of Internet and technology stocks turn from gold to lead in October, he had every right to see the plunging stock prices as proof that the meat of his book, The Coming Internet Depression , was unfolding as predicted. Mandel isn't claiming any premature glory, however. It's a little too soon.