Review by Choice Review
What is the future? Is it tomorrow? Next week? Next year? 2030? Sociologist Urry (d. 2016) is thinking about the distant future. He uses the word "futures" as often as "future," by which he means that there are different futures for different individuals and organizations. He seeks to describe different attempts to predict or anticipate the futures--those futures being basically unpredictable because of specific unpredictable events, e.g., earthquakes. Further, these attempts are influenced by the different self-interests of various anticipators. In analyzing three examples, Uri focuses on "complex system thinking"--the view that life is a system consisting of many parts (entities or processes) tied together in a network where the parts influence each other--i.e., the feedback mechanism--and are capable of self-organization. In the first example, he suggests that 3-D printing (printers that can "print" three-dimensional objects) will take over manufacturing in the future. Secondly, the future city might be empty of cars, buses, and trucks, replaced by alternate means of travel. Third will be the social effects of climate change. All of this results in an informative and thought-provoking book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Dean Harper, University of Rochester
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
