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What Future: The Year's Best Ideas to Reclaim, Reanimate & Reinvent Our Future
One of The Smithsonian Magazine 's Best Science Books of the Year
The future is here and, frankly, it sucks. Without doubt, our culture is at a crossroads. Political strife and economic crises are byproducts of a larger looming challenge, one in which we will have to ask ourselves what constitutes a meaningful life. We must do the hard work of imagining a different kind of reality for ourselves. It's work that anticipates the worst but sees hope on the other side of catastrophe, or at least possibility; that presumes disaster and says, now what? A best-of-the-year anthology, What Future is a collection of long-form journalism and essays published in 2016 that address a wide range of topics crucial to our future, from the environmental and political, to human health and animal rights, to technology and the economy. What Future includes writing from authors Elizabeth Kolbert, Jeff Vandermeer, Bill McKibben, Kim Stanley Robinson, as well as the scientists, journalists, and philosophers who are proposing the options that lay not just ahead, but beyond, in prestigious magazines and journals such as The Atlantic and The New Yorker.
The future is here and, frankly, it sucks. Without doubt, our culture is at a crossroads. Political strife and economic crises are byproducts of a larger looming challenge, one in which we will have to ask ourselves what constitutes a meaningful life. We must do the hard work of imagining a different kind of reality for ourselves. It's work that anticipates the worst but sees hope on the other side of catastrophe, or at least possibility; that presumes disaster and says, now what? A best-of-the-year anthology, What Future is a collection of long-form journalism and essays published in 2016 that address a wide range of topics crucial to our future, from the environmental and political, to human health and animal rights, to technology and the economy. What Future includes writing from authors Elizabeth Kolbert, Jeff Vandermeer, Bill McKibben, Kim Stanley Robinson, as well as the scientists, journalists, and philosophers who are proposing the options that lay not just ahead, but beyond, in prestigious magazines and journals such as The Atlantic and The New Yorker.
295 pages, Paperback
First published October 2, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 4, 2018
A nice collection of essays exploring some possible futures given the current scientific and political climate. It's somewhat downbeat, or at least cautionary.Kim Stanley Robinson starts by debunking the hope that there's an Earth Two that will save us. Donald Trump won because of his anti-future campaign, according to Hal Niedzviecki. The disappearance of currency is a bane or a boon but ordinary people aren't getting to say much about it. Gender bias starts very early. These and other essays paint a gloomy picture but offer some hope for action.
April 21, 2018
A breezy, accessible, and frequently frightening look at the near-future and the trends that are shaping the world — climate change, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, political polarization. Compiling from magazine articles, blogs, and long-form creative nonfiction writing, the editors find a lot of recurring themes and trends, and they’re all a bit terrifying. It’s not all doom and gloom, but these pieces of reportage show how parlous are the times.
May 2, 2018
The works of fiction of some untalented writers. Dull with a strong sense of righteousness, a few go even into prophetic.
I do like the cover.
I do like the cover.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews