The Future in Plain Sight: Nine Clues to the Coming Instability

I read one or two of these futurist books a year and I found this as good as any. He has done a good job of categorizing all the things that effect civilization on the planet.As with most of these types of books we are shown that most trends have come out of nowhere and completely unforseen and unpredicted.Of course; there has always been struggles between peoples,natural disasters,major outbreaks of diseases,financial upheavels,conflicts among religions and political ideologies,rich and poor,elimination of resources and species,and on and on.At any point in history when one stops and looks back one sees a string of major events causing great turmoil at the time but as time goes on they all get consumed in the process and progress.However;looking forward always tends to make one think that we have been lucky so far ;but all indicators are pointing at the future as being on a direct path to disaster.Nobody knows what the future will bring ,but if we have to guess,it must be bad.Normally, predictions in books like this are so vague that no matter what the future brings it can be construed to fit the prediction. The other approach is to make the prediction so far in the future that nobody remembers it.A case in point; that the limiting factor for the number of vehicles would be that there was only enough rubber trees to make so many tires,..guess what, we learned to make synthetic tires which ended up better and cheaper. It's tough enough to predict the near (a couple of years)future, but when it comes to several decades--it' fun to fantasize,but don't take it seriously. The author thought he would try anyway.So,remember now, he wrote this book in 1998.He came up with the idea of terrorists exploding a home made fifteen-kiloton nuclear device on the outskirts of Las Vegas killing 8000 people in 2006.This caused a crisis that wrecked all the world economies for years to come. Lo and behold in 2001, just 3,not 8 years;such an event ,9/11 happened and the world's financial systems didn't crumble.It just shows the resiliance of mankind. Anyway,Linden has really detailed the issues ahead,but the future remains to be seen.A good read nonetheless.Maybe one should put it away for someone to read in 2050;and I doubt that he'll be off in the wilderness ,dressed in a robe,tending his little herd of sheep,on his little self-sufficient family farm.That is, unless that is where he is ,and what he is doing now.

Author Linden's basic premise is that history fluctuates between periods of stability and instability. The last half of the 20th century was stable. The first half of the 21st promises to be anything but stable. The book is tremendously well thought out, and persuasive.Linden visits nine areas, including climate change, increased population and larger cities, resource depletion, environmental degradation, religious fundamentalism/fanaticism, economic instability, etc. These analyses are then followed by realistic, but speculative, scenarios describing life in the event of the anticipated change. Author Linden does an excellent job in avoiding the Cassandra-style, apocalyptic language so common to writers in this area. Surely, the facts alone are sufficient, and Linden is to be praised for discerning the difference. All are well done, but I was particularly impressed by the chapter on religious fundmentalism. As Linden so carefully describes matters, this fundamentalism, Christian or Muslim, is a response to the scientific and economic uncertainty of today's society. The true believer yearns to return to a simpler, more certain, time, and is perfectly willing to throw out the baby with the bath water to get it, including equal rights, scientific advances, better living conditions, etc. Anyone skeptical of this statement is invited to consider Iran, the Taliban, Creationism, and the like. I have not found Linden's peer in describing the origin and effects of religious fundamentalism on society as we know it. The whole book is more than worth it for this one chapter alone. Every thinking person should read it.In short, the book is an outstanding addition to anyone's library. I recommend it very highly.

Bought the book six months ago, read it and almost forgot it. But look out -- author Eugene Linden's bold predictions are coming true. Read the book to get a real glimpse of the near future -- in plain sight. Find out what stocks to short -- Linden will point the way. A page turner all the way, and then you'll go back to highlight every prescient nugget. The Chief salutes you, Mr. Linden.

Dispelling the cyber-utopian and financial boom scenarios, exemplified by Wired Magazine and Harry Dent respectively, Mr. Linden describes possible (and all too probable) flashpoints and meltdowns of the 21st century. All of them exist currently in their incipient forms and threaten, singly or in unison, to plunge the planet into ecological and financial chaos and anarchy. First these problems are described and analyzed, then woven into fictional stories of the year 2050. The author finally provides a glimmer of hope in the assertion that humans are a resourceful species and have extricated themselves from difficult situations before. Perhaps he can influence politicians, business people, scientists and the rest of us to make critical changes in our way of life.

Got this a few weeks ago. Before I finished reading it (three days) events described in section one had already started to unfold. If you have money in stocks, either have a ridiculously strong stomach or take your money and run like hell ! Live in Claifornia and this guy is on the money.