A Brief History of the Future (Brief Histories

by Oona Strathern

Predicting the future is a notoriously precarious, profitable and even dangerous business. This book takes a look at the most interesting, important and influential futurists over the years; from Delphi's virgin visionaries, to pop futurists, science fiction writers, trend gurus and evolutionary experts.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2007

Reviews

[Matt Mayevsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Brief History of the Future" by Oona Strathern is a popular science book. Strathern describes the various stages of the development of what today is called futurism. The author focuses on the people representing the field of future studies. The journey starts from ancient times, the temple at Delphi, Pythia, Cassandra, Plato, by Roger Bacon, Thomas More, Leonardo da Vinci, Michel de Nostredame, Francis Bacon, Thomas Robert Malthus, Marquis de Condorcet, Louis Sebastian Mercier, Jules Verne, Edward Bellamy, Elisabeth Burgoyne Corbett, HG Wells, Joseph Schumpeter, Aldous Huxley, John Langdon-Davies, to the classics of modern futurism, as Ossip Flechtheim, Hermann Hesse, John von Newmann, Theodore von Karman, Issac Asimov, James Surowiecki, Bernard Wolfe, Robert Jungk, Herman Kahn, Alvin Toffler, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Marshall McLuhan, Stanislaw Lem, Arthur C. Clarke and John Naisbitt.

Of course I did not mention all the names that appear in the book. "A Brief History of the Future" is a fascinating historical journey in the future. Through the images of the future, registered in different times, by different people. The book is interesting combination of knowledge and entertainment, thanks to fairly freely narrative style. For those who start their adventure with future studies.

[Elly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected, but a history of those who write/talk about the future and what they predict. Still, a rather fun read, with a lot of nice references to other books that might be nice to read, especialy in the chapter on fiction and future telling.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this book, but it was sluggish and just dragged on. I didn't wind up finishing it, unfortunately, though I did get halfway through. I think part of the problem was that the writing seemed very dry. Although the topic was fairly interesting (though admittedly not what I'm personally interested in), it could have been written in a better way.

I'll try to get my husband to read this and see what he thinks- it seems more up his alley, anyway.

[Aaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the format of this book, the way it was written very easy to read even for someone like me. Content was non linear, clear albeit random facts, it was more Taylor’s for people who would like to hear about past futurists and their predictions rather than how to do it. Easy read if you’ve got sometime between books.