After Shock: The World’s Foremost Futurists Reflect on 50 Years of Future Shock—and Look Ahead to the Next 50

by John Schroeter (Editor), Ray Kurzweil, Deb Westphal (Foreword)

After Shock marks the 50-year anniversary of Alvin Toffler’s, Future Shock. The compendium of essays comprising this landmark volume offers insightful reflections on the classic text and presents compelling and surprising views of the future—through the very unique lenses of more than 100 of the world’s foremost futurists, including David Brin, Po Bronson, Sanjiv Chopra, George Gilder, Newt Gingrich, Alan Kay, Ray Kurzweil, Jane McGonigal, Lord Martin Rees, Byron Reese, and many other luminaries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Futurism

544 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2020

Reviews

[Kevin O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book, but somewhat mixed by its nature. As the subhead says, it is a collection of essays by futurists, and they are both looking back on the Tofflers' Future Shock, and looking ahead to the future. As such, the quality of each essay can vary. Some of them will be excellent, others might leave you wondering how this person got a reputation for insight, but on average they will make you think. There was only one essay that I started and abandoned two pages in. The other point that should be clear is that this is an optimistic book. The editor who put this together is the Executive Director of the Abundant World Institute. I am an optimist despite Covid-19, Trump, and all of the other evils of our time. The future is so bright I gotta wear shades.

That said, this is a thick volume, and not one that you would just sit down and read through like a novel. I would advise that you should dip into it for an essay or two at a time. Since I read on my Kindle, I tend to have several books I am reading at any time, which makes this easy.

[Ronald J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A celebration of the 50th year of Alvin Toffler's book, Future Shock. This book is far too long, very repetitive, and chocked full of "futurists." There are some interesting points, and there's some PC junk. I enjoyed George Gilder's contribution the most, among some others (those critical of Toffler's premise that we can't adapt to change). No one deals with how creativity and innovation always take us by surprise, the essence of capitalism. If it wasn't that way, socialism and planning would work. Hence, the future is not predictable. That doesn't mean we shouldn't think about it, or make plans for it, but some of the contributors seem to think that only enlightened people should be involved, or that capitalism isn't an incredibly resilient system which creates new futures all the time, especially compared to state planning. I put my faith in free markets.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

and in fifty years the quality of Futurists have gone down the toilet

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Propheties don't work, but if you make them generic enough, like the horoscope, a shallow reader might say: that's it!

What does these people "foremost"? Well, they are the ones to answer the mails from the selected group who respects the foundation's mascot.

[Lori Shriver · Rating 5 out of 5]

After Shock is an enticing collection of essays observing the 50 year anniversary of Future Shock by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.

Future Shock was first released in 1970. Much of the country was living in a state of uncertainty due to an unpredictable environment. Future Shock was a welcome distraction for many, as it contained a mix of both pessimistic and optimistic communications of shared experiences about adjusting to new conditions. In this socially contentious and uncertain time, it gave a clear and precise goal of focusing on the future.

I immensely enjoyed this collection known as After Shock. I especially like that it began with a personal note from Schroeter regarding how he was fascinated by all things “future" because of his dad's involvement with NASA's Joint Propulsion Laboratory and I did pause for a long while over Mead's essay as he wrote about electron tunneling.

Back in the '70s, it seemed Popular Electronics and transistors were everywhere as my dad re-built machines and used ham radio for global communications. When I wasn't hanging out with dad, I spent time with Mom at the local library. I read a little of everything but mostly concentrated on novels written by authors born in the 1800s. Their books spoke of huge scientific advancements, surrealism, alternate realities, some with advanced computer simulation. I enjoyed reading these as I witnessed diverse perspectives.

Each contributor in After Shock presented a diverse perspective and some of them personally knew the Toffler's.

Being that love to read, and always have, I will state that I appreciate that Frank explains that the internet may be the greatest library ever made and that Mansharamani reminds us that that “The only difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction hasn’t happened yet."

In reading After Shock, readers can release pent up energy.

What we get right, what we get wrong, what alludes us at the time and what gives us a greater feeling of mutual support within diverse groups are clearly issues to consider in everyday life. But we also have an opportunity to look forward to the future. To contemplate how to apply what we've learned and to recognize that where we are heading depends largely on our perception and interpretation of facts.

We know humans have complex emotions. Yes, there are lingering difficulties and assumptions should always be evaluated. But change is inevitable and we have the capacity to explore and discover how things can be different.

I find I most identified with Keay pointing out "Our identity is inextricably linked to our computing technologies.", and Bodell asking the question, "Are we focused on the things that matter?"

I seem to recall the Toffler's wrote about the importance of imagination. Imagination centers are not a new concept. Perhaps if we all combined forces to imagine our future world was one worthy of imitation we'd figure out a way to all work together to forge a world where we are more at peace within ourselves and with all beings around us.


This book was provided by the generosity of John Schroeter for an honest review.

[Alireza Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

After Shock represents a back to the future report made by116 contributing authors. It covers a wide range of topics from Artificial Intelligence to the possibility of shaping better futures for all. It is a compendium of essays observing the 50th anniversary of Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock. The book appreciates Toffler’s legacy by re-proclaiming his call for futures consciousness. We know that today will be different from yesterday and that tomorrow may hold a few surprises. But this book reports the efforts of thinkers and experts who have tried to examine the influence of our past decisions and current actions on our future capacities. This book may be interesting to readers who like to re-examine Toffler’s opinions against the contemporary futurist thought after five decades.

[Axmed Bahjad]

Smart book.