Review by Choice Review
In years to come, future studies is likely to be the focus of discourse in academia and in the public sphere. In Part 1 of this book readers learn why most people in developed societies do not think about the future, why some do, and who must. May provides an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of several kinds of thought about the future, followed by a discussion why it must be considered. Part 2 treats different ways of looking at the future and ways current society may affect it, a more important and interesting topic. Part 3 is a collection of paradoxes of developed societies, apparently pulled together to liven up otherwise dry and abstract prose. This book is less about specific theories of the future than about the logic of such thinking. Perhaps if theories themselves were the subject matter of May's work it would have been more cohesive. Many of the book's graphics are not illuminating. Although it falls outside the interests and concerns of most academic disciplines, this study may appeal to individuals interested in how to think about the future. General; undergraduate. D. V. Waller University of Texas at Arlington
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
