As the Future Catches You: How Genomics & Other Forces Are Changing Your Life, Work, Health & Wealth

... Juan Enriquez' book - better than anything you'll ever read - frames the entire globalization debate in a clear, pragmatic, level-headed way. He blitzes through a complete review of inter-country economics - from agri-society to the Industrial Revolution to the Information Age, now giving way to the force of Genomics.Enriquez has a way of making startling points in a pithy, almost prose-like fashion. [In fact, don't be put off by the Tom Peters-like spacing and font shifts. Here, it works. He brings heady and potentially esoteric subjects down to size in an inviting 'read me' fashion.]Here's an example (and one of Enriquez' main points):"Science and technology allow people to multiply their productivity much faster than those who do not have the same knowledge or instruments. .... The text is spread out just like that in short, punchy, well-crafted sentences.As you can tell from that passage, one of the book's main thrusts is Enriquez' comparison of countries that can or will meet the challenge, vs. those that don't or will not. In one of the book's best sections, he compares South Korea ("the ulitmate meritocracy"), the USA (he makes the point that, increasingly, we rely on imported brain power) and Mexico (he recounts some shocking stories of Mexico's capacity to squander its intellectual capital).Enriquez is well-positioned to make a S. Korea/US/Mexico comparison. He's a true 'man of the world' - an HBS professor and former CEO of Mexico D.F.'s Urban Development Corporation. He remains a harsh critic of Mexico's need to 'shape up' or be left behind at the station. [In fact, he has an eye-opening, scalding commentary in the book of Ernesto Zedillo's tenure as Education Minister and President of Mexico.]A good way to learn a little more about Enriquez and this book - before comitting to buy it - is to take a look at a recent piece wrtitten about him in Fortune (they call him "Mr. Gene"). This article is available online & you can find it at the Fortune site by putting in "Juan Enriquez" as your search term.

I have been hypnotized by this seemingly brief book for over a month now. Initially, I was attracted to the cover of the book (ideas catching fire) -- at least enough to take a closer look inside -- what I now consider one of the most important books to be published this year. On first glance, once I saw that As the Future Catches You dealt with what appeared to be "scientific" topics, I was inclined to put it back down on the counter and move on. The pure sciences have never been my greatest interest or strength. Yet, as I started to read the headings of the sections of the book, and sampled some of the initial ideas, the fire that the cover portrays lit inside me! After reading the first ten pages I was absolutely `ablaze'. Ironically, this short book has taken me longer to work through than most 500 or 600 page books I have read. It is a collection of facts, cases, arguments, criticisms and scenarios that demand some serious and sometimes sobering thought and reflection. My now well worn book is filled with notes and underlining, along with personal reflections that grew out of points that the author made, or catalyzed, in my own mind while considering his presentation. Juan Enriquez writes very clearly and compellingly about how the future will be significantly different than the present. While many of us are quite proud of the change we have managed to adapt to in the past decade as technology diffusion took place and changed our world in record time, we have likely given little thought to what other changes we might need to prepare ourselves to face in the short term. As the Future Catches You - does just that. It gets our attention in a very big way. Juan Enriquez informs us that the rapidly emerging advances in genome research, coupled with technology and economics will change us in ways that will make the technological revolution of the past decade seem minor The author presents a book that appears playful on the one hand because of the layout and creative use of type font but all of that is actually hypnotically deceptive. This little `playful' book is a very serious instrument, which clobbers us over the head, page after page, with particularly compelling facts, conclusions and new food for thought - page after page, over and over. Enriquez urges us to prepare for what is to come - not by looking in our rear view mirrors while driving onward- but by opening our eyes, facing front, hanging on tight, getting ready for the ride and a fast one it will be at that! The genetic revolution is well underway. This is not a "could happen" book. In As the Future Catches You, we meet figures whose names are not yet known in many households- yet these are names that will become as important, if not more so, that the greatest change leaders our world has ever encountered. These are the researchers and other members of the `knowledge' community, all seekers, who are already far beyond most of us in their thinking and in what they have alre

If you want to understand some of the "big picture" issues in our society I strongly encourage you to read this book. Peter Drucker's Management Challenges for the 21st Century and Daniel Pink's Free Agent Nation are two other good reads on a knowledge-based economy. While Mr. Enriquez spends most of the book talking about genomics (his area of expertise and knowledge) and the implications arising from developments in the area, he also tries to illustrate the impact such discoveries might have on the world economy in a very basic, easy-to-understand manner. Mr. Enriquez does an excellent job in talking about the importance of education and how the large differences among certain geographic regions may lead to a larger divergence of wealth in the next century.In talking about genomics, Mr. Enriquez is quick to talk about cloning and the moral and ethical issues that will arise from such technology and how it will be EXTREMELY TOUGH to policy this technology due to its rapid evolution and ability to move into other countries borders. In the past the evolution of public policy was adjusted with the technologies but genomics is different in that we are talking about the potential to create human life via cloning, which stirs up all kinds of moral and social issues which affects politicians and their voting constituencies.The one thing I know is that genomics is revolutionizing modern medicine as we breathe today. The new drugs, cures and foods that will be created and these WILL have VERY PROFOUND impacts on our standard of living in the next century and will cause tons of social implications. This book is your entrance into learning about geonomics in a very easy to read book. I highly recommend purchase of the book.

As the Future Catches You is an excellent trigger of ideas and questions surrounding the impact of biotechnology in our daily lives in the years to come. Enriquez has the ability to build strong arguments, with few well-chosen words, that make you think differently about: science and technology as a driver of economic growth; the relationship between scientific progress and society; and most of all the importance of countries and regions in acquiring the necessary tools to participate in this new revolution. As someone who lives inEurope and works in the technology sector, I see this debate increasingly gaining importance, and this book has been a boon to understanding the issues at hand.

When I first received this book and flipped through it, I was seriously tempted to send it back unread. The typesetting is... creative to say the least - lots of white space, multiple fonts, scattershot graphics. Indeed, it looks like you've received an extra long email from someone who's just discovered how to play with all the format settings. Given that I'd purchased a hard cover book at hard cover prices, I felt ripped off.However, I decided to read it anyway, and I'm glad I did. It's a short read, but a wild ride, and it's packed with information about the biotech and economic revolution we're just getting into. There are lots of facts and figures to consider, and the author does an excellent job of providing thought-provoking analogies that may change the way you look at some things. In one example, he asks you to think of mosquitoes as flying hypodermic needles - right now these insects infect people with things like malaria, but scientists are trying to figure out how to use them to innoculate people instead.This book would make an excellent Christmas gift for non-technical people who want to try to understand the potential impact of biotechnology, genetic engineering, computers, and the Internet. The choice of typesetting, it turns out, is deliberate: it's designed to convey the speed at which these changes are taking place, and it makes reading the book as easy as consuming a sound byte from the 11 o'clock news. It can get a bit heavy on the hype factor, but the author acknowledges this at the end.It should also be required reading for all the politicians, bureaucrats and other politicos involved in making decisions about things like cloning, genetically modified foods etc. These people in particular have to be able to see past the immediate 'ick factor' reaction and to the long term economic consequences of the legislation they propose.In short, its an excellent primer on the biotech revolution, and a great starting point for anyone seeking to understand what's happening. And even those who are used to, as I am, reading more technical material on this topic, it provides a good summary of what's happened to date, how technologies have converged, and what we might expect in the next decade.