Megatrends Asia

by John Naisbitt

From Simon & Schuster, Megatrends Asia is John Naisbitt's exploration of the eight Asian megatrends that are changing the world.

In this, the mother of all megatrends books (Wall Street Journal), John Naisbitt, the trend forecaster known throughout the world for his accuracy and acuity, turns hi attention to the explosive events occurring in Asia, and reveals the impact this area of the world will have on global economics, politics, and culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Asia

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and after finishing his studies in at Utah, Cornell and Harvard, he worked as an executive in the coporate world, was called to be Assistant Secretary of Education under President Kennedy when he was 34, and worked as Special Assistant for President Johnson. He has witnessed America going throubled times and good times.
He has traveled the world since the late 1960s, keeping in close touch with corporations and people in many fields of endeavor. He has spoken to virtually every major corporation, to many several times. His cultural life and residence in the United States, Europe and now China keeps him in direct in touch with a changing economic environment -- experience that is reflected in the books he has written.

His international bestseller Megatrends sold more than 9 million copies and was on the New York Times bestsellerlist for more than two years, mostly as number one. John Naisbitt published the international bestsellers Re-inventing the Corporation in 1985, Megatrends 2000 in 1990, which was published in 32 countries and was the Number One bestseller in the U.S., Japan, and Germany, and Megatrends for Women in 1992 (co-authored with Patricia Aburdene). His Japanese language book, Japan's Identity Crisis, was released in 1992 and was a bestseller in Japan.

His 1994 book, Global Paradox, received England's World Review Award for The Best Book of The Year. Megatrends Asia 1995, was a bestseller in the German language and in Asia. High Tech High Touch, was published in the fall of 1999 and has since been published in 17 countries. His last book Mind Set! was published in 42 countries. The Wall Street Journal called his work “triumphantly useful…taking bearings in all directions and giving us the courage to do the same.”

* Studied at Harvard, Cornell and Utah Universities
* Former executive with IBM and Eastman Kodak
* Assistant Secretary of Education to President Kennedy
* Special Assistant to President Johnson
* Former visiting fellow at Harvard University, visiting professor at Moscow State University, and current faculty member at the
* Nanjing University in China
* Distinguished International Fellow, Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), Malaysia -- the first non-Asian to hold this appointment
* Recipient of 15 honorary doctorates in the humanities, technology and science
Source: His Official Web page

Reviews

[Marcus Goncalves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a very old and to various accounts outdated (1996), the author had great insight into the geopolitical and economic changes that would take place, in particular, the ascent of China to global economic leadership and trade and the rise of Asia. It was interesting comparing his predictions of 26 years ago to current facts. He was pretty accurate on many accounts, but not all.

[Dr. Barrett Dylan Brown, Phd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The BEST of his MegaTrends Series (which I'm actually SURPRISED to Discover my iPad Spellcheck actually KNOWS!). This book is more masterfully crafted and better thought out than either of the previous two... So well thought out, in FACT, that he PUT HIMSELF OUT OF BUSINESS by writing it! At least the business of Writing about Government/Commodity Futures.

Because the changes written about, in this relatively OLD BOOK, are STILL coming to Pass, some of them yet to happen. China moves its enormous feet very, very Slowly, with Great Patience and Care. Japan has learned to be quiet as possible, it's vast Zaibatsu's and non-officially-affiliated Arms, moving and infiltrating carefully, cunningly. While Korea N. Korea plays STRAW MAN, doing whatever it wants, unimaginably advanced Digital Warfare Capacity, blabbing about Nuclear Malarky and other such hoo-haw.

Worth a Reread!

[C Mijares · Rating 2 out of 5]

While most of the Asian values predicted the economic trend of South East Asia that time, it missed a couple of important factors that eventually led to the 1997 South East Asian crisis (one of which was controlled and government-regulated financial regulations, which to me the author seemed actually not a fan of). So yup, 6 years after the book was written, most statements in the text became irrelevant. Good book, still. Good throwback book when Asia was on the rise, most specially it is now making a comeback (China statements are still accurate).

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

First written in 1996 (30 years ago), this book accurately forecasts the growth and development of Asia as it exists today. The author, John Naisbitt, was a futurist that mastered the art of trend analysis. This book clearly shows it is possible with adequate research and trend analysis to predict the future of political and economic events.

[Greg Allbright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this almost four years after it came out, and so I was able to see which trends he guessed right, or explained how big they would be, and those he gave more importance to than was merited. A great snapshot of economics in Asia at the time.

[Dharmantaran · Rating 2 out of 5]

ramalan john naisbith tentang munculnya raksasa Asia patut dipertanyakan, beberapa tahun setelah buku ini keluar negara Asia malah pada kena krisis.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit overoptimistic.

[Batur · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very earlier book...