This is a book about the future. We are all obsessed about the future. We wish we could project the future onto our present. But that is not possible.
Many of us think that our future is very bleak. But we never know because the future is unknown. We live in the present, and the present is quite complicated and problematic enough for all of us.
However, despite this, our society finds it very comforting to be more focused on what is going to happen in the future.
In this book, cultural critic and indie entrepreneur Hal Niedzviecki asks how and when we started believing we could and should create the future. What is it like to live in a society that is completely focused on what is going to happen next?
By visiting colleges, corporations, tech conferences, factories and more, the author traces the story of how owning the future has become irresistible to us.
Niedzviecki asks some crucial questions such as:
- Where are we actually heading?
- How will we get there?
- And whom may we be leaving behind?
I found the book quite difficult to read in places because of the negative message that it contains. I kind of like to think of the future as something positive. But what is more, I am usually the type of person that likes to focus on the here and now. Somehow I always believe, and this is the case especially now, that I have more to deal with right outside of my door in the present.
This book will be of interest to historians and futurists. It will also be interesting to people who want to understand the world beyond the here and now.
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by: Irene S. Roth
