The book "Future shock"

I found this book at local bargain bin book sale, we have an annual book rummage sale in my town that travels from town to town, they pick up book donations at each town bring to next one and use proceeds to aid a women’s group. It’s where I find many of my antique books beside estate sales. This futurist book is quite interesting so far, almost like a time traveler dropped it 1970 to be published. I am providing the book info and the table of contents.








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wow!
seems like a gem of another forgotten little prophet.
though one may not be certain of its actual contents, and it seems the heading Part Two is missing from the copied list, but the heading are quite telling.

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Good excerpt



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I had to take break from book, but it’s earily prophetic, almost like author dlsent it back to 1970 from future

@LeeBLanger
An oldie and a real goodie! Alvin Toffler wrote a number of great books, although not all prophetic.

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… see also his Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century

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There’s also “The Third Wave”. It’s not sensational, in the sense of the one you’re reading now but Toffler got awfully close; except for the improvement in traffic on the roads. LOL!

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If I’m not mistaken he has a book that’s specifically about the future of warfare too. Can’t remember the year it was published.

I read this book in the late 1970s as a new college graduate and it had a profound impact on me. I never forgot the basic premis, that these days inventions happen too quickly for people to fully adapt to them. That, along with a less well known book, In the Abense of the Sacred, helped form my world view. That book, argued that modern people are slapped with innovations and technology so quickly, they don’t have time to evaluate their impact on their lives, and they especially don’t get to access their impact on their spiritual outlook or world view. The author worked a lot with Native Americans and other traditional people, when they were forced by their governments to bring TV into their lives (in Canada). When he got there and he asked a class of 6th graders if they listend to their grandparents stories in the evening, almost the entire class raised their hands. Six months after TV, only one child raised their hands. I had to turn out the lights and sit in the dark for twenty minutes after reading that. 12,000 plus years of history, lost in six months. Both Toffler and Jerry Mander (a pen name) saw these trends coming.

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I am currently reading Toffler’s last book
Powershift published in 1990. Due tell our current and future issues are all there.

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I never read that one, but I’ve noticed an uptick in recent authors picking up on both Toffler’s work and the ideas expressed by Gery Mander (not sure of the spelling) in both In the Absence of the Sacred and his book that argues for the elimination of Television. That one is nearly impossible to get, so I haven’t read it, but large parts are quoted in the second book. But modern authors questioning the quick adoption of technologies without considering their impact on humans seem oblivious to his work. I suspect that is because the media buried his ideas, and he wasn’t a great writer. His message was powerful, but his writing wasn’t inspired. Toffler was a better writer and presented a similar view, but without the spiritual effects that Mander picked up on.

I am reading the book Generations by the author of I-Gen (the first book to point out the vast changes happening in young people since the adaption of Smart Phones and social media). Despite the fact I think she spends way too much time trying to compete with Strauss and Howie on why she thinks her definitions are better than theirs, she does pick up on the spiritual and psychological despair that has enveloped young people (and later older people) with the move from interpersonal relationships to social media ones. Reading it, I keep thinking, "If only they had listened to the voices raising the alarms 30 and even 40 years ago.

Just found a copy on Ebay for £3.72, thanks! :slight_smile:

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