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A Brief History of the Future

A Brave and Controversial Look at the Twenty-first Century

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A Brief History of the Future

By: Jacques Attali
Narrated by: Alan Robertson
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About this listen

What will planet Earth be like in 20 years? At mid-century? In the year 2100? Prescient and convincing, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future. Never has the world offered more promise for the future and been more fraught with dangers. In this powerful and sometimes terrifying work, Attali analyzes the past and pinpoints nine distinct periods of human history, each with its world center of power and prestige, and predicts what the tenth will bring by the end of this century.

Attali foresees the disappearance of individual countries and the dominance of a world government, with democracy prevailing. However, the ultimate, burning question is: Will we leave our children and grandchildren a world that is not only viable but better, or in this nuclear world bequeath to them a planet that will be a living hell? Either way, he warns, the time to act is now.

©2006, 2011 Librairie Arthème Fayard, English-language translation copyright 2009, 2011 by Arcade Publishing (P)2012 Audible, Inc. Americas Future Studies Politics & Government Social Sciences United States World Socialism Military Imperialism Africa Imperial Japan China Capitalism Middle East Latin America Self-Determination Refugee Middle Ages Russia War Taxation Solar System Ancient History Iran

Editorial reviews

Jacques Attali, a French economist and former adviser to Francois Mitterand, lays out a chilling vision of our global future based on the paths taken by mankind throughout the course of history. In A Brief History of the Future, Attali argues that the progression toward individual freedoms has meant a greater focus on economic concerns rather than theological or militaristic ones which, in Attali's view, will lead to a dismantling of the nation-state. Alan Robertson has a gravelly voice that oddly manages to be soothing as well as unsettling as he details Attali's provocative vision of the impending world.
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I'm conflicted by this book it has so many great concepts and is aweasome in many areas but then in others it exhibits significant amounts of ignorance which leaves me questioning the concepts that are great to identify what ignorance exists in those perspectives.

conflicted

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A little confronting given the current climate of world wide instability. I found some aspects hard to hear.

A little confronting.

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Provides some thought provoking and interesting ways of thinking about history and human nature.

Interesting

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This definitely didn’t age well, although he hit the mark in some theories he was way off on n for the bull of the book. Basically it’s a pro world government and pro trans humanist turd that I’m sorry for wasting hours listening to. Make up your own mind though.

Don’t even bother!

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It is interesting how much can someone get wrong ! It is 2022 now and 90% of predictions on this book are already proven wrong . It is one-sided illustrations of future and history. It was a poor read.

Cheap fiction

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Pretty bleak and poorly argued book. Excellently read though… Ultimately a cheap dystopian list of predictions.

Not aged well. Poorly thought through to begin with.

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