The Future. A User's Guide

A comprehensive resource for both casual readers and decision-makers, this text delves into harnessing creativity and knowledge to envision the best-case scenarios, prepare for challenges, and handle unexpected events. With pervasive pessimism about the future, this book proposes innovative perspectives and new thought processes. Futurist Florence Gaub emphasizes that everyone has the power to shape their future—whether in personal endeavors, careers, or the broader community. For those who reject being immobilized by fear, Gaub presents the future as a landscape brimming with opportunities. She investigates the evolution of human perspectives on the future throughout history, clarifying what the future entails, how it functions, potential disruptions, and solutions. Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, she illustrates how people, both individually and societally, envision and create their future. A bestseller in Germany, this insightful and engaging guide counters passive fatalism, urging us to believe in our capability to mold what's ahead and to understand its implications on our lives. Ultimately, humans are uniquely capable of imagining the future in such depth that they have the power to bring it to fruition. Gaub adeptly guides readers in reclaiming this remarkable capacity.