How to Fall in Love with the Future: A Time Traveller's Guide to Changing the World

by Rob Hopkins

There are an infinite number of possible futures that lie ahead of us—like threads stretching out into the distance. Rob Hopkins, cofounder of the international Transition Network movement, invites us to travel to future worlds we would actually want to live in.



In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every aspect of daily life, climate activist and Transition Network cofounder Rob Hopkins responded the way a lot of people by starting a podcast. But it wasn’t any ordinary podcast. In each episode, Hopkins and his guests would “time travel” together to the year 2030—walking down imagined future streets, talking with imagined future neighbors, visiting imagined future local businesses. While Hopkins’s guests came from all walks of life—economists, politicians, bakers, comedians, novelists and more—they all shared a willingness to suspend their worries about the future long enough to mentally inhabit and then describe a world they were thrilled to be a part of.



What Hopkins discovered was no less this simple exercise of visiting a positive future forced him to rethink the work he’d been doing as a climate activist for decades.



How to Fall in Love with the Future is the result of that radical disruption—and Hopkins’s deep dive into the people and movements throughout history who have used visions of the future to inspire positive change on a large and dramatic scale. From the life and writings of musician Sun Ra and the history of Black utopian movements to the latest neuroscience on what goes on in our minds—and hearts—when we “time travel,” Hopkins brings essential new thinking to anyone overwhelmed with dread and anxiety for the future. He asks us to what would the world look like if we all got to work imagining—and then building—a world we were deeply in love with?



“Rob Hopkins puts imagination back at the heart of future-dreaming, offering us an irresistible invitation to dream bigger and then make those dreams a reality.”—Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Audiobook

192 pages, Hardcover

Published September 16, 2025

About the author

Rob Hopkins did his permaculture design course in 1992, and around the same time saw Bill Mollison lecture in Stroud, and both of these things dramatically changed his life. He became involved in the Bristol Permaculture Group, and at the same time did a degree in Environmental Quality and Resource Management at UWE Bristol. His dissertation, ‘Permaculture - a new approach for rural planning’ is on his website. He moved with his family to Ireland, where he began teaching permaculture and laying the groundwork for the ecovillage development he wanted to undertake.

He set up Baile Dulra Teoranta, the first company granted charitable status for an eco-village development in Ireland. In September 2005 he moved to Totnes in Devon, to begin a PhD at Plymouth University looking at Energy Descent Action Plans, refining the model in such a way that they can be done anywhere.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up on a whim at a bookstore — I just liked the title and cover. I didn’t realize it was about environmentalism, which is actually something I really care about. It’s all about imagining a positive future so we can actually act toward it instead of getting stuck in negativity. As someone who’s always been a bit of a futurist, I loved that message. It made me want to be braver and bolder about helping shape what comes next.

[Theo Silberston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually have to meet this bloke. Recommend!

[Katie Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this one, even more so after the first two chapters. But then things took a turn, becoming little more than piecemeal examples of people and organizations creating visionary shifts through various executions in different communities. While a lot of these examples were important and interesting to learn about, the book lost its guiding thread for me and no longer felt relevant or substantial. It was definitely optimistic and had a lot of useful and joyful moments, but I ended it feeling unsure of the takeaway. If it really was simply a how-to on designing a Time Machine workshop on climate-positive futures with scattered inspirational examples, well ok then, checkmark. I was hoping for a lot more from this book, and it never got there.

[Bellatuscana Bellatuscana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. The book less a compilation of futuristic scenarios and more of an implementation guide for organizations and thought leaders to take the initiative to have futuristic emporiums. This author made a point of how there are so many doom and gloom scenarios of what the future will look like, and how there is a need for optimism. It read more like a Masterclass of what Elon Musk already knows - I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to take on more leadership positions.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

exceptional....now obsessed with building a time machine!

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Indispensable para estos tiempos donde la creatividad se ha reemplazado por la supervivencia. Inspirador y te ayuda a entender a la imaginación de mejores futuros como acto político.

[Francis Wight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book and hope to return to it frequently. An optimistic and inspirational blueprint for facilitating grassroots change.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for facilitators!

[Lauren Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book that left me feeling inspired and moved to think more about the preferable futures we need to bring about as communities and societies today!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Hopkins isn't the most gripping of writers, the ideas and exercise of envisioning a better future feels essential right now. Recommend.

[nori v · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beautiful and inspirational book from Rob Hopkins!