Future Shock

"The best study of our times that I know. . . . Of all the books that I have read in the last 20 years, it is by far the one that has taught me the most."—Le FigaroFuture Shock is about the present. Future Shock is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations—even our patterns of friendship and love. Future Shock vividly describes the emerging global civilization: tomorrow’s family life, the rise of new businesses, subcultures, life-styles, and human relationships—all of them temporary. Future Shock illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless clichés about today. Future Shock will intrigue, provoke, frighten, encourage, and, above all, change everyone who reads it. Praise for Future Shock “Explosive . . . brilliantly formulated.”—The Wall Street Journal “A spectacular outcrop of a formidable, organized intellectual effort.”—Manchester Guardian “Revealing, exciting, encouraging, brilliant.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Immensely readable.”—Newsweek “Alvin Toffler has sent something of a shock-wave through Western society.”—London Daily Express “To the elite . . . who often get committed to age-old institutions or material goals alone, let Toffler’s Future Shock be a lesson and a warning.”—The Times of India NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The classic work that predicted the anxieties of a world upended by rapidly emerging technologies—and now provides a road map to solving many of our most pressing crises. “Explosive... brilliantly formulated.” —The Wall Street Journal Future Shock is the classic that changed our view of tomorrow. Its startling insights into accelerating change led a president to ask his advisers for a special report, inspired composers to write symphonies and rock music, gave a powerful new concept to social science, and added a phrase to our language. Published in over fifty countries, Future Shock is the most important study of change and adaptation in our time. In many ways, Future Shock is about the present. It is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations—even our patterns of friendship and love. But Future Shock also illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless clichés about today. It vividly describes the emerging global civilization: the rise of new businesses, subcultures, lifestyles, and human relationships—all of them temporary. Future Shock will intrigue, provoke, frighten, encourage, and, above all, change everyone who reads it. In the three short decades between now and the twenty-first century, millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future. A book about what happens to people when they are overwhelmed by change. It is about the ways in which we adapt--or fail to adapt--to the future Product Description Examines the effects of rapid industrial and technological changes upon the individual, the family, and society. Describes some of the problems our technology has created for society and suggests some strategies for coping in the future.

Examines the effects of rapid industrial and technological changes upon the individual, the family, and society.