Future Shock

by Alvin Toffler

Future Shock

by
Alvin Toffler

book data

515 ratings, 3.70 average rating, 51 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		21%
4		38%
3		29%
2		8%
1		1%

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published

1991 by Bantam Books (first published 1970)

details

Mass Market Paperback

isbn

5553857651 (isbn13: 9785553857653)

description

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

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Jun 28, 2008

Jeffrey rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: social

This book was written 37 years ago, and Toffler's predictions have to a great degree come true. If you've never read Toffler, he's a must. A classic. Here Toffler speaks of a "Future Shock" in which people are not able to adjust to the quickening pace of society due to technological change. There are certain advantages to technology but are humans capable of keeping up emotionally, spiritually? He speaks of an increase in bizzar behavior (I remember reading about bizzar behavior in fic...more

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Dec 18, 2007

Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

Read in January, 2008

The book is divided into 6 parts. Part 1 introduces the basic program (death of permanence), Parts 2-4 explain the 3 factors that induce future shock: transience, novelty and diversity and Parts 5-6 bring in future shock and possibly coping strategies. For me, it was initially a very slow read, but for some reason it eventually took off into Part 3, and I found myself sold.

Toffler worries that we are hurtling towards mass feelings of "future shock" (akin to culture shock ...more The book is divided into 6 parts. Part 1 introduces the basic program (death of permanence), Parts 2-4 explain the 3 factors that induce future shock: transience, novelty and diversity and Parts 5-6 bring in future shock and possibly coping strategies. For me, it was initially a very slow read, but for some reason it eventually took off into Part 3, and I found myself sold.

Toffler worries that we are hurtling towards mass feelings of "future shock" (akin to culture shock that travellers get when they go to a foreign country). The book serves as a tool for diagnosing the problem, i.e. why he thinks we'll be getting future shock, and also as a way of asking what we can do about it.

He makes some predictions (especially in the novelty section), and almost 40 years later, we see that he gets some of the wrong, at least for the time being. But that doesn't matter. It's just details, and for that matter, he himself says that although it's very easy to get things wrong, it is important to try looking into and anticipating the future.

Book is actually quite pro-technology and pro-change. Future shock comes because people today are experiencing too much change too fast. It's not that change is inherently bad, he says. Too little change and life is boring. But too much change, too much stimulation and we have trouble coping. And if you're worried about change, well there's a whole lot more of it coming right around the corner.

(Key anticipatory rebuttal: it's important to plan for the long term, but that doesn't mean that plans have to be rigid. You may very well have to revise your 20 year plans from one year to the next, or more, but it's ok. Plan fluidly, but plan ahead)

Some of his proposals don't seem terribly realistic: the idea of post-technocratic planning sounds swell and all, but I don't see any nation, democratic or otherwise sitting itself down for 5 years (he's thinking War Games and future-jury duty), taking stock and asking where it wants to be. In any case, Toffler wants to get us thinking about how we can manage change and assure humanity a soft landing into the future.

Nice read. Kinda funny to see links with No Logo and The Paradox of Choice and maybe even Getting Things Done.(less)

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May 02, 2007

Jeffrey rated it:

(review of isbn 0553277375)

Read in March, 1998

Accurate picture of cultural forces clashing in the 21st century where the information age brings about changes that those who are for accelerating into the technological era embrace while those who yearn for old days where things were seen as rosy, they reject the movement of this new era.

But colorful lenses deceive as the old farm days were filled with sickness without good medical care, harsh environmental forces coming into play and people being left to the mercy of storm, rain a...more

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Jul 15, 2008

Jim rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in October, 2008

I read this years ago & liked it. It's worth reading again, almost 40 years after it was originally published. It's even more true. 'Future Shock' is based on the term 'Culture Shock' & Toffler's book deals with how the future is coming at us so fast that we're all in a state of shock from dealing with the changes. His writing is excellent, often illustrating large complex ideas with understandable examples, but he doesn't over-simplify nor repeat himself.

He's written several oth...more

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Dec 12, 2007

J Dean rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: 2007, from-the-library

Read in December, 2007

Fascinating book! I won't pretend that I'm smart enough to wrap my head around even half the concepts that Toffler brings up, but those that I did understand were pretty mind-blowing. It starts out and ends up a bit dry, but the ideas put forth in this are amazing, and 30 years out it's interesting to see which of his "predictions" have come true, which haven't, and which should have. As someone who's dealt with anxiety and panic attacks most of his life, I also found the discussion...more

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Oct 02, 2008

Ron rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: history, religion-philosophy

Read in January, 1965

Future Shock was required reading in the humanities program at my college in the 60s. I wasn't impressed by Toffler high opinion of himself nor the uniqueness of his "vision" for the future. That said, his theme seemed to be right.

In fact, as a certifiable Old Foogie, I am now experiencing the kind of "shock" he spoke of then: not just with the rapid rate of technological change but the revolution in morals and mores which is now happening.

Of course,...more

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Jun 04, 2008

Al Carlson rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: future-think

Read in January, 1990

This was the beginning of Toffler's trilogy that continued with The Third Wave and PowerShift. In each of them, he looked at the world and said, "This is where we're going, and here's why." He and his wife, Heidi, who co-wrote these, seemed to be able to see about a decade ahead of the rest of us.

His analysis and predictions in the first two books--published in the 70's and 80's--seem mundane now. His third title in this group--published in 1990--still has some ideas tha...more

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Jan 14, 2010

Ara rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: non-fiction

Read in January, 1990

http://hubpages.com/hub/History-of-Human...

Beyond the review of the book which i read long back. the effect it created in me through the 800 lifetimes is as under.

Alvin Toffler described " if we divide the human experience of latest 50 thousand years and divide the same into 800 lifetimes, human being spent 650 lifetimes in caves"

This is fantastic expression which captures the pace in which human as a species moving ffrom one level to the other.
...more

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Oct 17, 2009

Joe rated it:

(review of isbn 0553277375)

bookshelves: concise, philosophy, psychology, sociology

Read in October, 2009

This book proposes a warning of impending social decay caused by a condition the author calls "Future Shock". In the first 2/3rds of the book, he spends a great deal of time explaining the elements contributing to Future Shock, namely "transience" and the "accelerative thrust". Toffler's explanations are very detailed; he starts with how these ideas apply to ourselves, psychologically, to the economy, to society at large, etc. Indeed, it seems very hard to contest h...more

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Apr 05, 2009

Collin rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: gave-up-on

Read in June, 2009

recommends it for: nobody

The main point is that technology has accelerated the pace of human life, and it points out how totally this rapid change is affecting us.

Unfortunately, this book is not interesting enough to sustain its length (487 dense pages). I've decided to skim and/or skip around to only the specific topics that interest me.

--update: The first 1/3 of the book documents a lot of the ways in which the pace of society has been increasing. It's sort of boring. The next 1/3 kicks int...more

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Jun 05, 2008

Frederick rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in March, 2008

This book does offer some insights into the nature of change and the possible effects and outcomes, it suffers from a lack of data and breath of understand. This creates large assumptions from not enough sources leading to incorrect assessments. The authors breathy pronouncements, fail to realize a fundamental truth. The future will probably be about like the present but a little different. The author sees technological change creating rapped social change and more dynamism. He overstates this p...more

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Nov 19, 2008

Grant rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in October, 2008

I read this as a teenager and was bored with the lack of technical info about how we'd all be using jetpacks to get around town by circa 1990. As an adult, I'm much more interested in sociology, social psychology, and the like. This book turned out to be, on my second read, surprisingly, a self-help sort of book. I've acknowledged that I suffer from a bit of future shock and have been able to let go of some of it just by being aware of it. I got much more than I anticipated out of this read.

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Feb 27, 2009

Penny added it (review of isbn 0553101501)

Read in January, 1977

I read this book in college and re-read it half way through my career. It formed a lot of my ideas on education, economy and I used those ideas in my career.

I am and have been very impressed with his ability to pull stats/numbers together and understand the overall picture and see the trends. Reading all of his economic books gives you a new prespective on education and how it fits into society and what role it plays.

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Dec 21, 2007

Courtney Falk rated it:

(review of isbn 0553277375)

bookshelves: non-fiction, sociology

Read in September, 2008

It took me three years to get around to finishing this book. It's a pretty painful read. Toffler has a bad habit of creating at least one neologism in each chapter. In my opinion, resorting to neologisms is just a failure to analyze your own arguments. Neologisms are a cheap way out.

Also, Toffler fills each chapter with paragraph after paragraph of case study and academic quotation. Then at the end of the chapter he sums it up with some kind of statement to the effect of "o...more

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Apr 07, 2009

Lyn Pham rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

Read in January, 1990

This book really triggered my thinking about the world in which I live. I thought it was amazing the vision Toffler had and wonder how he would edit his work to update the language now that many of these things have occured.

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Apr 17, 2007

khashayar XerXes rated it:

(review of isbn 0553277375)

U must read this b4 having or telling or discussing any Opinion about anything around your world!
it gives u a glass to see!

best sociology book ever!
if u r by any chance a part of the world between 1960-2060
u Have 2 read these aalvin tofler series!

1970...future shock
smthing is gonna change,it will change in the fastest way it could!
here he discuss the effect that the rate may cause,& leave
the tehem of the "change" 4...more

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Apr 04, 2009

Brian.a.figueroa rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

bookshelves: currently-reading

ive realized that the future is too far in the past for this sci fi writer. I need to finish it to finish it. He does have some good references to nomadic lifestyles, throw away society/the rapid wave of development.

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Mar 28, 2009

Sheik rated it:

(review of isbn 0553101501)

Read in January, 1969

The only constant will be change. Still waiting for this insane society to catch up with that idea....the status quo of the military industrial complex is destroying the world. Eisenhower was right!

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