Three Horizons: The Patterning of Hope

by Bill Sharpe

Three Horizons is a simple and intuitive framework for thinking about the future. But it is about much more than simply stretching our thinking to embrace the short, medium and long term. Here Bill Sharpe introduces Three Horizons as a prompt for developing a 'future consciousness' - a rich and multifaceted awareness of the future potential of the present moment - and explores how to put that awareness to work to create the futures we aspire to. The book first outlines the Three Horizons framework and the practices it supports, including case studies of its effective application in rural community development, education, healthcare and elsewhere. In the fi nal section, Sharpe explores his intuition "that we have within us a far deeper capacity for shared life than we are using, and that we are suffering from an attempt to know our way into the future instead of live our way". Here he thrillingly outlines the potential of future consciousness as a shared cultural practice to guide society towards a third horizon that is the patterning of our mutual hopes.

Genres: Sustainability, Business

132 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2013

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more like a collection of essays. The essays are connected, but also distinct and could quite easily stand alone. I have to say that I came to 3 Horizons from a practical perspective. I learned about it in action, I saw it in action, and that led me to want to read about some of the genesis of the technique.

I am a bit of a fan of 3H. It can work well if you keep in mind what it can do, and what it can't. It is not a model - there is no causality path. It is a tool - something that can help in the process of reaching the objects of a futures exercise. It is good in the examination of the flow of change, in the identification of why it is that some people embrace change whilst others resist it, and helping people map a transition from an old paradigm to a new one.

I think that the book could do with a good edit. It is a bit bitty in places and the pace can be a bit uneven at times. The first two essays - why we do it and how we do it - are the real payload of the book. The third essay - on how others have used the technique - is interesting, but could easily be missed. And the fourth essay - on some of the philosophical underpinnings - could be seen by some as being a bit abstract.

On the whole I enjoyed the book. I would recommend it to others. It is a technique with increasing popularity, and one that futurists could do well to study.

[Lily Agnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hope is our partner in unknowing. Hope “is not a utopian belief that we can create a perfect society. To hope is to change our experience of the present moment onto one of life, to renew the human where we are, and as such is to experience life even in the presence of death of ourselves and others”

[Bojan Avramovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Procitas prvih 20 strana I jasno ti je sve. Ne nastavljas da citas jer pisac vrti istu dosadnu pricu do kraja