Foundations of Futures Studies: Volume 1: History, Purposes, and Knowledge

by Wendell Bell

Futures studies is a new field of inquiry involving systematic and explicit thinking about alternative futures. It aims to demystify the future, make possibilities for the future more known to us, and increase human control over the future. Author Wendell Bell brings together futurist intellectual tools, describing and explaining not only the methods, but also the nature, concepts, theories, and exemplars of the field. Now available in paperback with a new preface from the author, Foundations of Future Studies is the fundamental work on the subject. Bell illustrates how this sphere of intellectual activity offers hope for the future of humanity and concrete ways of realizing that hope in the real world of everyday life. His book will appeal to all interested in futures studies, sociology, economics, political science, and history.

390 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 1996

Reviews

[Martine Delannoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A basic must read for professionals in this field.

[Matt Mayevsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would not call this book "Foundations of Futures Studies'. Rather," History of Futures Studies "stripped down to sociology and political science. The author points to the interdisciplinary nature of future studies, but he did not apply to this rule. In the book there is no reference to military strategy, and above all to economic science. The author devotes too little attention to methods of future studies. However, the book deserves the highest rating, due to the monumental, pioneering work on future studies.

[Nate Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I approached this book as a skeptic. Chapters 1-2 pushed me away from my skepticism, but the remainder of the book was unconvincing. The proposition that futures are possible, preferable, and probable is where I stop swallowing the blue pill. This book is worthwhile for determining the purpose/use of assumptions as "future" facts to which we can apply deductive logic.