Reviews for Brief History of the Future How Visionary Thinkers Changed the World and Tomorrow's Trends a...

The average rating for Brief History of the Future How Visionary Thinkers Changed the World and Tomorrow's Trends a... based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-04-01 00:00:00 Omar Ortega 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-01-30 00:00:00 Gloria Jeziorski 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.