The Extreme Future: The Top Trends That Will Reshape the World for the Next 5, 10, and 20 Years

This book was shipped in a timely manner, arrived quickly, and was in the condition described by the seller.

I heard about this book during a presentation by Howard Rheingold at a Rotary Honolulu luncheon. I jotted the name of the book down and bought a copy. This book has given me a broadened perspective on where our world is today in regards to business, technology, medicine, security, terrorism, population, immigration, the environment, energy, and even what it may mean to be human during the remainder of this century and beyond. The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first chapter sets the premise: The future can be extreme. The future can be bright, or it can be dark. The concept of "Future-Readiness" is introduced, and how the degree of awareness and readyness can change the probable outcome of the future. Dr. Canton also describes a process of looking at the future to determine the extremes, the causes of the extremes, and thus the choices that can be made today to shape the future. The next eight chapters address various factors which we are living with today which will have a bearing on how the future develops. These topics include: Energy, Prosperity/Poverty, Human Capital, Medicine, Environment, Globalization, Security, and Advanced Science. The last three chapters serve to pull together the information in the first nine chapters to "plug in the crystal ball" and examine how the confluence of factors will impact the future of the individual, and the global future with an emphasis on China and the U.S. Granted, there are some pretty wild and imaginative "predictions" of specific inventions, such as teleportation of matter, but the public thought Leonardo DaVinci crazed when he suggested that people could fly with the aid of machines. For me, the chapter with the most impact was the last chapter: The Future of America and Democracy. This chapter is a "call to service" for America, and the world. It very powerfully urges that we the people, government and business, consider taking certain actions to address the challenges that face our communities, our nation, our world, and humanity. This was both a thoroughly enlightening and entertaining read. Two years after publication, this book is prescient and timely reading for anyone who wonders "Where are we going?", "How are we going to get there?", "What could go wrong?", but most importantly "What can we do?".

THE EXTREME FUTURE: TOP TRENDS THAT WILL RESHAPE THE WORLD IN THE NEXT 20 YEARS could've been featured in our 'Business Shelf' section but is surveyed here for its wider interest beyond the general-interest business lending library. Its chapters discuss and define new risks and definitions of opportunity and come from a renowned futurist and advisor to three administrations, and it covers everything from the climate and energy trends certain to reshape the planet to shifting population demographics, medical enhancements, and the spread of terrorism. A key survey, THE EXTREME FUTURE is recommended cross the board for high school, college, and general-interest public library lending collections.

As I read this book I am reminded of the old saying that 'forecasting the future is easy, it's being right that's hard.' Dr. Canton breaks down his forecasts into ten areas. Some of them I find very good. Some of them I find OK. Some of them I disagree with. Some of them I'd replace with others. His view of the future of the individual, Chapter 10, I find totally agreeable. He says that protecting the freedom and rights of the individual is going to be difficult. I absolutely agree. There will be a great deal of pressure to restrict rights (the so called Patriot's Act) in the name of security. The Democrats would like to impose gun control. The Republicans would like to impose abortion control. His view on energy I find half right. He is right that we are running out of energy. Oil will get progressively more expensive. Then he says, 'Hydrogen is the most plentiful gas in the universe...It's abundant, reliable, renewable, clean and secure because hydrogen is everywhere, America wouldn't have to rely on foreign suppliers.' Yes, but hydrogen isn't a fuel, it's a way to store energy. You have to put more energy into separating hydrogen from oxygen (where it's mostly found, i.e. water) than you get back when you burn it. Nuclear power is the only forseeable place to get the energy to put into hydrogen, and we still have problems of where to store the old fuel rods, do you want them in your back yard? He sees medicine making all kinds of advances that will lead to longer and healthier lives. I'm not so sure. AIDS is likely to move up to #3 in killing people in the next few years, and there's no cure in sight. Drug resistent forms of TB, malaria, etc. are spreading. New potential diseases like avian flu. If you're interested I'd recommend 'The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance' by Laurie Garrett. It's a bit old, but still the best on the subject. This is a fun book to read. It will be even more fun to see how correct it turns out to be.

The Extreme Future is a fantastic feast of ideas. So many books about the future are predictable or simply boring. This book is a whole other experience. Canton's mind is a non-stop treasure trove of complex insights, wild ideas, brain-stretching posssibilities and just plain fun. I wholeheartedly recommend The Extreme Future to anyone who would like to step outside the box and look at everything - from global politics to mind control to enhanced humans - in some pretty incredible ways.