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A Brief History of the Future: How Visionary Thinkers Changed the World and Tomorrow's Trends are 'Made' and Marketed
Whether for economic, personal, or political reasons, people have always wanted to know what the future will bring, and there have been no lack of people to tell us. A Brief History of the Future chronicles the most influential futurists over the years, from Delphi's virgin visionaries, to pop futurists, science fiction writers, trend gurus, and evolutionary experts.
- GenresScience
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 2, 2012
For anyone interested in futurology or futurists work. This is the equivalent of a "historical survey". This is an extremely approachable work that while it has its limitations takes great care to survey the essence of futurism.
The authors overview of Ossip Flechtheim works sum up the authors thesis when she writes "the future is not pre-defined as a linear continuation of present trends." Because of the maleable nature of Futurology (there are the author purports no keepers of the discipline); a few professions are lumped together under the banner of futurists- including trend hunters, scient fiction authors, logicians, and political scientists. I appreciate Strathern's broad inclusion as it allows any two individuals to come away with their own belief about the scope and limits of Futurism.
Of benefit to a burgeoning practicioner is Strathern covers not only the 'whos who' list of futurists, but also identifies the methods these practitioners employ (ie. content review, scenario writing, forecasting models).
I debated whether to give this four or five stars but settled on five when I realized just how useful this book is; and how I wish for similar dilligence (and approachability) in surveys of other fields. Note the author acknowledges the participation of Naisbitt in her writing, so he is covered in depth. Though there are worse influences on a survey of Futurism.
The authors overview of Ossip Flechtheim works sum up the authors thesis when she writes "the future is not pre-defined as a linear continuation of present trends." Because of the maleable nature of Futurology (there are the author purports no keepers of the discipline); a few professions are lumped together under the banner of futurists- including trend hunters, scient fiction authors, logicians, and political scientists. I appreciate Strathern's broad inclusion as it allows any two individuals to come away with their own belief about the scope and limits of Futurism.
Of benefit to a burgeoning practicioner is Strathern covers not only the 'whos who' list of futurists, but also identifies the methods these practitioners employ (ie. content review, scenario writing, forecasting models).
I debated whether to give this four or five stars but settled on five when I realized just how useful this book is; and how I wish for similar dilligence (and approachability) in surveys of other fields. Note the author acknowledges the participation of Naisbitt in her writing, so he is covered in depth. Though there are worse influences on a survey of Futurism.
January 31, 2012
Underwhelming historical survey up to the 20th century. Middle chapters including portraits of Robert Jungk and Herman Kahn are the best, and that is not saying much. Throughout, optimists are portrayed as protagonists and pessimists as antagonists in the author's unspoken teleology. By the end I nevertheless found her journalistic voice endearing.
September 9, 2008
Informative and enjoyable. I recommend it for an excellent summary of lives, works and mindsets of a variety of futurists - in chronological order - ranging from 8 century BC to the present. A useful reference for further reading on the subject.
August 7, 2011
a good introduction to futurism/futurology etc
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews