Vol.
2, No. 8 | June 2016 | AAI
Foresight
Books for the Foresight Community: A Futurist's Vacation Reading List
For
your summer reading pleasure (or winter, for our friends in the
Southern Hemisphere), we offer a sampling of new and forthcoming
future-oriented books, plus a preview of coming attractions.
Recent and New:
The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab (World Economic
Forum, Jan. 2016). The latest step forward for industrial processes
that have accelerated economic growth (with all the social,
environmental, and political impacts such growth implies) is
characterized by technologies that merge with human capabilities and,
in many ways, supersede them. While acknowledging the great potential
of such developments to improve the human condition, World Economic
Forum founder Klaus Schwab also warns of disruptions from power
shifts, security threats, and increased inequality. Signals:
economics, technology, world affairs
The Future of the Professions by Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind
(Oxford University Press, Jan. 2016). The technologies that make the
work of professionals more efficient could eventually also replace
such skilled workers as accountants, architects, lawyers, doctors,
and teachers. Scholars Richard and Daniel Susskind address critical
issues this technological replacement raises, including who should
own or manage online expertise, what tasks should be reserved for
human professionals, and what the relevance of professionalism will
bewhen the prospects for employment in the professions disappear.
Signals: expertise, jobs, technology
Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends
by Martin Lindstrom (St. Martin's Press, Feb. 2016). As enamored as
we all are of big data and the opportunities afforded from mining it,
small data, or weak signals, offer savvy businesses and organizations
another way “out of the box.” Signals:
business, marketing, trends
The Industries of the Future by Alec Ross (Simon & Schuster, Feb.
2016). A
former innovation adviser in the U.S. State Department, Alec Ross
looks at technologies most likely to have major economic, political,
and social impacts, including robotics, genomics, cybersecurity, big
data, and fintech--financial technologies such as blockchain.
Signals:
business; technology
The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure
by Henry
Petroski
(Bloomsbury USA, Feb. 2016). An engineering professor whose popular
writing has examined both ordinary objects (The
Pencil)
and extraordinary failures (To
Engineer Is Human)
here focuses on the potentially devastating consequences of
neglecting the mundane (but vital) bridges, roads, pipes, and other
structures that literally support our society and economy. Signals:
environment, infrastructure
4 Steps to the Future: A Quick and Clean Guide to Creating Foresight
by Richard A. K. Lum (Vision Foresight
Strategy, March 2016). Professional futurist Richard Lum offers a
handy primer for “attention-stressed and resource-deprived”
leaders in need of guidance in guiding their organizations to better
futures. The simple (but not easy) process covers analyzing the
organization's present within the context of current trends,
developing alternative scenarios, envisioning desired outcomes, and
creating or revising goals. The book includes worksheets, exercises,
and checklists. Signals: business, foresight, planning
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will ShapeOur Future by Kevin Kelly (Viking, June 2016). Wired founder Kevin Kelly goes beyond predicting the next big things to analyze the future's potential based on the deeper forces underlying our technological innovation, such as interacting, filtering, accessing, sharing, remixing, tracking, and questioning. Signals: business, technology, trends
But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were thePast by Chuck Klosterman (Blue Rider Press, June 2016). Why is “what if we're wrong” a question we want other people to ask themselves, when we're so often reluctant to undertake the exercise ourselves? Journalist Chuck Klosterman reminds us that history is full of shifts of opinion as new discoveries render our cherished beliefs absurd. Among the great “what if” thinkers Klosterman interviews are Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nick Bostrom, and David Byrne. Signals: creative thinking, philosophy, values
You Belong to the Universe: Buckminster Fuller and the Future by
Jonathon Keats (Oxford
University Press, April 2016). For fans of the perennially inspiring
planetary genius (aren't we all?), this overview of Bucky Fuller's
life and work offers lessons from the unconventional thinking and
comprehensive vision that created dymaxion houses and cars and the
geodesic dome, among other innovations. Signals:
biography, creativity, design, genius
BOLO--be on the lookout for these forthcoming titles:
Small Is Powerful: Why the Era of Big Government, Big Business and Big Culture Is Over by Adam Lent (Unbound Digital, Amazon Digital Services, June 30, 2016).
Future Value Generation: Do You Need to Create New Business Logics? by Daniel
Egger (Amazon Digital Services, July 1, 2016).
Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It by
David Fleming (Chelsea Green, July 29, 2016).
Selling the Future: The Perils of Predicting Global Politics by Ariel
Colonomos (Oxford University Press, Aug. 15, 2016).
The Future of Diplomacy by Phillip Seib (Polity, Aug. 22,
2016).
Minifesto: Why Small Ideas Matter in the World of Grand Narratives by
Magnus Lindkvist (Lid Publishing, Sept. 6, 2016).
And
we won't want to miss the three volume study of the work and life of
pioneering futurist Elise Boulding
(1920-2010), edited by her son, environmental scientist J. Russell
Boulding:
EliseBoulding: A Pioneer in Peace Research, Peacemaking, Feminism and the Family: From a Quaker Perspective
(SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, Springer, Sept.
17, 2016).
Elise Boulding: Writings on Peace Research, Peacemaking, and the Future
(SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice, Springer, Sept.
15, 2016).
Elise Boulding: Writings on Feminism, the Family and Quakerism (SpringerBriefs on
Pioneers in Science and Practice, Springer, Sept. 15, 2016).
We'll
have more books to preview at the end of the year, we promise!
Authors and publishers, send announcements and review copies of your
forthcoming future-oriented titles to Foresight Signals editor
Cindy Wagner.
__________
Send
us your signals!
News about your work and other tips are welcome, as is feedback on
Foresight
Signals.
Contact
Cynthia
G. Wagner,
consulting editor.
Feel
free to share Foresight Signals with your networks and to submit any
stories, tips, or “signals” of trends emerging on the horizon
that we can share with other stakeholders and the foresight
community.
__________
Foresight
Signals is a publication of AAI
Foresight
1619 Main Street,
#1172
Freeland, WA 98249
Managing Principal:
Timothy C. Mack
tcmack333@gmail.com
| 202-431-1652
Webmaster and IT
Consultant: Tom Warner
Consulting Editor:
Cynthia G. Wagner
Designer:
Lisa Mathias
No comments:
Post a Comment