Future History

by Thomas Harding

This future history of the next thirty years, imagined by bestselling author Thomas Harding, is a compelling and startling call to action. In 2020, a researcher is shocked to find a set of notebooks detailing the history of the next thirty years. Is this a hoax? Or could it be real?  The notebooks, written in the year 2050, contain interview transcripts between teenage Billy and Gran Nancy. We learn about the great climate SHOCK, when global temperatures rise much faster than anticipated, resulting in catastrophic consequences for humanity. We learn about a shift away from democracy, toward unelected “ethnarchs” ― heads of corporations who use their access to our personal data to competently run the world. We learn about the giant city towers where most people live, work and play inside ― where it's safe from natural disasters and viral outbreaks. And between these interviews, we learn more about Billy, whose interest in the history that has been erased from the official record is causing trouble in 2050. Is it too late to change the past to save the future?
Key Text Feature glossary

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Science Fiction

Hardcover

Published April 1, 2020

About the author

Thomas Harding is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has written for the Sunday Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, among other publications.

He is the author of HANNS AND RUDOLF which won the JQ-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction; THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award; and BLOOD ON THE PAGE which won the Crime Writers’ Association “Golden Dagger Award for Non-Fiction”. For all his books, reviews and updates, go to thomasharding.com and follow him on X/ twitter @thomasharding

Reviews

[BlurbGoesHere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Future History

[Blurb goes here]

Future History is a nice little book. The main character is a fourteen year old interviewing his grandmother. She recount tales of old. But wait. She's recounting them from the year 2050, the book was found by a researcher in 2020. I would call this one 'food for thought'.

It is masterfully written and fast paced. I would encourage every one, no matter your genre predilections, to give it a try.

Thank you for the free copy!

[Stars eternal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this book because the premise sounded exciting but that’s really where it ends. The idea and the promise of it being epistolary was great but this book was a major let down. I honestly didn’t want to finish it and only did because it was an ARC and I wanted to give an honest review.

There are so many ideas and “history” points in this book that could have been really thrilling to go over and learn more about but everything is rushed. Information is thrown at you, you’re expected to accept it in three sentences because you are rushed to the next point. I don’t feel there is any real plot what exists is flimsy.

This reads more like a bullet point dream journal of ideas that aren’t fleshed out. Or that the author is going through some 2020 anxiety, wanted to get their feelings out on paper so that they can feel like they did something. Or maybe to have other people talk about their ideas. The author went down the YouTube Reddit rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and alternate futures and we got this poorly written mess.

I was willing to forgive the weird writing and voice for a 14 year old as translation errors but I just couldn’t look past the other disasters here. Also why promise a story told through letters and documents but give us dinky postcards and notebooks used to justify weak POV instead?

[Jenny B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich musste das Buch für ein Seminar lesen und fand tatsächlich, dass hier ein paar nette Überraschungen dabei waren. Die stupide dokumentarische Informationsflut gefiel mir persönlich ganz gut und die Zukunftsszenarien waren nicht alle auf dieselbe stereotypisch-dystopische Weise ausgestaltet, wie man sie schon 10.000 Mal gesehen, gelesen oder gehört hat. Die unterschiedlichen Dokumenttypen haben Abwechslung ins Leseerlebnis gebracht, waren aber für meinen Geschmack recht überflüssig und absolut nicht notwendig.

Der Hauptaspekt, unter dem die Lektüre allerdings gelitten hat, ist, dass all die tollen Einfälle nicht zu Ende gedacht und nur im Vorbeigehen angerissen wurden, weshalb die Auseinandersetzung zu kurz kommt und man schnell Vieles vergisst.

[Phil Wujek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA novel, and being 75, I found it quite an exciting read! This should be on every teenagers reading list. Not only does it discuss Climate Change (The SHOCK!), but politics, economy, and hitting an item that I've only just become aware of, preferred pronoun usage. To avoid being categorized by the sex to which you were born, a person can choose how to be addressed, him vs. her, his vs. hers, etc. Now, as in this book, a single person can choose to be called by what I used to consider a plural pronoun. Him, her, etcetera, are to be called "them, they, or their." Yes, I am struggling with this, and this is the first book I've read that uses such determination.

[Ditta · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Dies ist nur eine mögliche Zukunft“. Die Menschheit hat demnach noch Zeit die Klimakatastrophe abzuwenden und einen anderen Weg einzuschlagen, doch anstatt dystopische Zukunftsvisionen zu schaffen, liefert das Buch eher eine Beschreibung unserer Gegenwart: Klima, Gender, Polizeistaat. Eine Gegenwart, die 2020 anfängt und da das Buch 2019 verfasst worden ist, werden die Probleme einer Welt ohne Corona-Beschrieben; eben eine mögliche Zukunft. Es kommt eben manchmal ganz anders als man denkt.

[Jolene MacFadden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well told story that poses the questions - Would you want to know the future? If you do would you try and change it? I like the layout of the pages with the included future postcards and other items from the "notebooks". The story centers around a 14 year old boy who interviews his 100 year old grandmother about her life experiences from 2020 to 2050. He starts it as a lark but it quickly becomes something more intense.

[Barbra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notebooks from 2050 found in 2020 is an intriguing concept and the plot of this book. With the actual notes and interviews and personal thoughts from Billy the finder of the notebooks we get a glimpse of our future. At first it drew me in and I wondered how our present day predictions of our world and climate change would be portrayed. Near the end I kind of lost interest.

[Emma Bozarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had a weird writing style and I honestly would have liked to have known more about the year 2050, like have the entire book be about that and not the years proceeding it. The characters were not very fleshed out and Billy's family was never present.

[Cynthia]

an interesting little read

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked it! I remember what’s it like to hear stories from my grandparents about the good old days. Reading this book brought those memories back but same time trying to patch together our present that was turning into history within this book. I always love time travel and futuristic books!