Nine Shift: Work, Life and Education in the 21st century

An excellent book of our environment & life's cycle of altering changes that have already happened & will happen ahead in our journey of life. Really make you think!

Drawing a comparison between the period 2000-2020 and 1900-1920 when the US underwent a major change from an agrarian to an industrial economy, the authors describe the changes that are already happening or they expect that will happen in the next coming years. The role that the car industry played in the early 20th century is played nowadays by computers and Internet. Although not much is new (other books such as "The Third Wave" have explored similar changes), the book is worth reading because we have not really absorbed many of these changes and we are only half way through this important transition period. As many books and reports written by consultants the main ideas are reiterated, so one could glean the essence of them with a book half its length. Some of the ideas are controversial. As a European that is in some aspects already in the future described by Draves and Coates (we have universal health care service and we have relatively good trains and even high speed trains, but we are still building freeways) the announced demise of the car industry is hard to swallow. Also, proposing the Segway as a vehicle for taking us to the train station and doing errands in the neighbourhood is not, I believe, a good solution. A scooter (and there are electric ones) can take two people seated and there is room between the driver legs to put your groceries. And saying that the only popular invention the car industry has made since 1984 is the cup holder is a gross understatement. Another thing that surprises an European is that many Americans (according to the authors) are now not capable of reading cursive. Well, handwriting is not going to disappear in the world, so is the US creating a generation of computer literate, but handwriting illiterate, people? There are some apparently contradictory statements. The authors say that a college degree will be needed to find good employment, only to tell us later that computer savvy boys, even if they are high school dropouts, are offered seven jobs when they are looking for one. Some explanation about this would be appreciated. It is clear that the school system (as the political system and many other of our institutions in the Western world) needs a profound review. There are good ideas in the book, but a deeper discussion of what school system the authors propose would be also appreciated, although there are some hints in the last chapter. They claim, anyway, that it is not the students (particularly the boys) that are failing, but it is the school system, still geared to educate the perfect 8 to 5 employee of the industrial age, that is failing. And they suggest that what was formerly thought as cheating should be emphasized: students should help and learn from each other. Cheating becomes collaboration. But another (apparent) contradiction appears here. In page 249 the authors claim that education is leading the business sector in becoming web based only to tell us in page 259 that secondary scho

This is a "future shock" book explained with such clarity that no one can leave the book without some awareness of their own experience with change. I heard the author speak at a lecture two days ago. If you get a chance to hear him in person, I urge you to do so. The book begins with the turn of the 20th century and a small town in Kansas with four department stores and an opera house. It describes the trends that caused this very small town to have these amenities. It then goes to the turn of this century and shows parallel rapid changes in our own society and the impacts these are having on our work and personal lives. I found the most interesting parallel was the comparison of the death of the horse and buggy in favor of cars to the death of cars in favor of TRAINS! (And not for the reason you think!!) This is an easy to read and understand book. It is a book you will not be able to put down. Short chapters allow you to read in spurts. Pictures and quotes add to the interesting tale of the turns of centuries.

If you haven't had the opportunity to hear and see Bill Draves speak about Nine Shift, then please read the book. The same energy and passion that Bill brings to his presentations seeps out from between the pages and infects you with his vision of the 21st century! My community was fortunate to have Bill Draves join us on January 17th, 2006 to talk about Nine Shift in general and how it applies to our community, Rutherford County, NC, specifically. Bill brings to life a lively description of how some 75% of life changed in the first 20 years of the last century and insightfully points out the eerie similarities in the first years of the 21st century. The book, like his presentations, is full of interesting stories that help to illustrate the changes that occurred 100 years ago and the changes that we are experiencing today. And while I may never visit Manhattan, Kansas, I've been there in spirit thanks to Bill's delightful recollections of his visit. Read the book and discover how some 75% of our daily lives is in the process of changing. Read the book and discover the nine major shifts that are occurring right now as you read this. Read the book and come explore the excitement of the 21st century!