This fascinating book may well mark a positive shift in my heretofore pessimistic view of mankind’s future.

The basic thesis is that far from running out of everything, we are in fact engaged with technologies and global trends that will allow us to shift paradigms in everything from energy to food production and water purification to poverty reduction and really across the board. So why does it appear that we’re running through vital natural resources but are not?

Diamandis, who is the founder of the X Prize as well as Space Adventures (the folks who are talking about mining asteroids), is clearly one of this generation’s wunderkinds, and this book discusses many of the rest of his ilk. In describing the many truly groundbreaking areas in which they are working he makes a strong case for abundance, which he defines as a world where 9 billion can live with their needs for shelter, energy, food and water, health, and education fully met, all within the next 20-30 years. He is very specific about his goals and timeframes, and presents ample evidence in all of these areas that it is quite possible to make the progress needed for abundance, with or without central governmental planning.

He defines several megatrends that are allowing for abundance, namely exponential technologies (anything based on computers or information fall into this, as does nanotechnology and others), super-philanthropy as we are seeing now from folks like Gates, the rise of the prospects of the lower few billion people on the planet as an economic opportunity rather than a challenge, and the DIY inventors that have certainly already begun to make their mark.

To take one of my pet concerns, the depletion of the world’s oil supply, Diamandis offers three very specific solutions, all of which are under intensely productive investigation right now – bioengineered algae (Venter is doing this), solar power and new battery technologies, and thorium-based nuclear reactors (and small-scale modular reactors). Far from being pie-in-the-sky, Diamandis is extremely specific and clear about the people doing this work and where it is likely to be in 20 years. And it seems to me that there is a real possibility that one or more of these will be extremely fruitful in sufficient time to move off of petroleum.

This is just one example. Diamandis gives similar treatment to all of the major resource and sociological problems facing the world. It is by no means a guarantee or a panacea, but it is unrelentingly optimistic and provides many rays of light in what I thought was guaranteed darkness. Diamandis writes with such intelligence, clarity, and specificity, and is so clearly tuned into all of these trends and technologies, that he makes a compelling and believable case for abundance.

Interestingly, this is also the first book I read as an ebook on my Ipad, read into this what you like!