World Future Society Books and Reports

World Future Society Publications

Futuring: The Exploration of the Future
by Edward Cornish. WFS. 2004. $29.95, member's price $24.95.
This comprehensive new guide to the study of the future will give you a detailed look at the techniques futurists use, what we can know about the future and what we can't, and the role that forward-looking people can play in creating a better tomorrow. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

The Futurist Directory: A Guide to Individuals Who Write, Speak, or Consult About the Future. Millennium Edition
edited by the staff of the World Future Society. WFS. 2000. 436 pages. Paperback. Subject and Geographical and subject indexes.
Nearly 1,400 people professionally involved in the study of the future. B-2224. Reg. $55, Mem $39.50. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

The Information Society as Post-Industrial Society
by Yoneji Masuda. WFS. 1981. 177 pages. Paperback.
Analyzes the technology that will free people to live more creative and happy lives: computer-controlled vehicle systems, automated supermarkets, and many more advances. B-650. Reg. $12.50, Mem. $11.25. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Futurist Anthologies

Exploring Your Future: Living, Learning, and Working in the Information Age
edited by Edward Cornish. World Future Society. 2000. 160 pages. Illustrated. Paperback.
This anthology collects important articles from THE FUTURIST. Topics include how to be a career strategist, the impacts of infotech on careers, investing for the next century, the secrets of innovative corporations, crime in cyberspace, and much more. B-1973. Reg. $12.95, Mem. $9.95. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Future Survey Anthologies

Environmental Issues and Sustainable Futures
A Critical Guide to Recent Books, Reports, and Periodicals
by Michael Marien. WFS. 1996. 150 pages. Paperback.
With some 450 abstracts, this book offers the latest thinking on such topics as climate change, biodiversity, land use, pollution, economics, and the movement toward a sustainable society. B-1911: Reg. $35.00, Mem. $29.50. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

World Futures and the United Nations: An Annotated Guide to 250 Recent Books and Reports
by Michael Marien. Foreword by Harlan Cleveland. WFS. 1995. 117 pages. Paperback.
Summarizes 250 books and articles on trends, forecasts, ideas, and scenarios of global relations. Topics: globalizing information, population growth and health threats, global environmental problems, expanding and reshaping the U.N. role. B-1856. Reg. $25.00, Mem. $19.50. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Creating Global Strategies for Humanity's Future
Edited by Timothy C. Mack, Published by the World Future Society, 388 pages.
More than two dozen outstanding essays prepared in conjunction with the World Future Society's annual meeting, WorldFuture 2006: Creating Global Strategies for Humanity's Future, will inspire you with the latest insightful forecasts, outlooks, and techniques for understanding trends and building a better future.

Subjects covered in this incisive volume include:

• China, India, and the global economy

• Leadership and its challenges

• Education for building the next civilization

• Wisdom and how to instill it in tomorrow's leaders

• Religion, values, and their impacts on the global future

• And other vital issues impacting our future, including the role of women in creating alternative futures, globalization, sustainability issues, public-health scenarios, and much, much more.
  Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Foresight, Innovation, and Strategy: Toward a Wiser Future
Edited by Cynthia G. Wagner.
World Future Society. 435 pages.
More than 30 outstanding essays cover a broad range of insightful forecasts, inspiring outlooks, and leading-edge futuring techniques. Topics include breakthrough research in nanomedicine, strategies for feeding the world's hungry, dynamic solutions to help organizations prepare for the future, and the new insights into the conflict between science and religion--and ways to resolve it. Among the 36 distinguished contributors are environmental scholar Norman Myers, noted scientist William Sims Bainbridge, and agricultural economist Lester R. Brown.
Paperback. Publication date August 1, 2005. ISBN: 0-930242-60-2. $29.95 ($24.95 for Society members). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Frontiers of the 21st Century
edited by Howard F. Didsbury Jr.
World Future Society. 1999. 250 pages. Paperback.
This collection of papers prepared for the World Future Society's Ninth General Assembly presents long-range visions by some of the world's outstanding thinkers, including Joseph N. Pelton on "From Noosphere to Technosphere and Beyond"; William Crossman on "CompSpeak 2050: How Talking Computers Will Recreate an Oral Culture by Mid-21st Century"; Robert B. Mellert on "The Future of God"; and Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Rajul Pandya-Lorch of the International Food Policy Research Institute on "Prospects for Global Food Security in the 21st Century." B-2272. Reg $29.95, Mem $19.95. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Future  Vision: Ideas, Insights, and Strategies
edited by Howard F. Didsbury, Jr.
World Future Society. 1996. 300 pages. Paperback.
A collection of insightful essays, compiled in conjunction with the World Future Society's Eighth General Assembly, includes contributions from Richard D. Lamm, Frederick Pohl, John L. Anderson, Joseph N. Pelton, and more. B-1978. Reg. $25.00, Mem. $19.50. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Thinking Creatively in Turbulent Times
edited by Howard F. Didsbury Jr. with the staff of the World Future Society. WFS. 2004. Approx. 350 pages. Paperback. Regular Price: $29.95. Member's Price: $24.95. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

This outstanding collection of essays covers a range of future-shaping issues, such as harnessing the powers of a coming "digital transformation," creating more-livable cities, dealing with the impacts of immigration, transforming school systems to meet the needs of the future economy, and overcoming the traps in the ways we think about the future. Among the 40 contributors to this volume, prepared in conjunction with the World Future Society's 2004 annual meeting, are former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm, independent futurist Hazel Henderson, futures studies professor Lynn Elen Burton, and Dutch government adviser on Internet trends Marcel Bullinga. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

21st Century Opportunities and Challenges: An Age of Destruction or An Age of Transformation
edited by Howard F. Didsbury Jr. WFS. 2003. 344 pages. Paperback. Regular price: $29.95; Member's price: $24.95
This collection of essays by some of today's leading futures thinkers address key issues presenting both challenges and opportunities for a potentially better world tomorrow. Authors include independent futurist and economist Hazel Henderson, Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon of the Millennium Project, sociologist and communitarian advocate Amitai Etzioni, educator Donald Louria, diplomat J. Ørstrøm Møller, and many many others. The volume, edited by historian and futures-scholar Howard F. Didsbury Jr., was prepared in conjunction with the World Future Society's 2003 annual conference. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

The Years Ahead: Perils, Problems, and Promises
edited by Howard F. Didsbury Jr. WFS. 1993. 278 pages. Paperback.
These insightful essays prepared for the World Future Society's 1993 Assembly on "Creating the 21st Century" examine the perils, problems, and promises we face. B-1694. Reg. $21.00, Mem. $16.95. Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Special Reports 

A Timeline for Technology: To the Year 2030 and Beyond
by Ian Pearson and Ian Neild
What's ahead in technology, and what will it mean? This new timeline offers a glimpse of likely developments--and of how they may change our lives:

• Species brought back from extinction.
• Immersive virtual-reality shopping booths.
• Robotic dance tutors.
• Holographic television.
• Production, storage, and use of antimatter.

These and other fascinating potential breakthroughs pave the technological road before us. This 8-page full-color report was originally published in the March-April 2006 issue of THE FUTURIST.

A Timeline for Technology: One copy, $5 (Members, $4.50); 2-9 copies, $4 each (Members, $3.60); 10-99 copies, $3 each (Members, $2.70); 100+ copies, $2 each (Members, $1.80). Order in the Futurist Bookshelf.

53 Trends Now Shaping the Future
by Marvin J. Cetron and Owen Davies. WFS. 2005. 32 pages.
The world's population will double within the next four decades. Important medical advances will continue to appear almost daily. The global economy is growing more integrated. Future seniors will be healthier and wealthier. And water shortages will plague much of the world.

These are among the 53 key trends that will change our world over the next two decades. Veteran forecaster Marvin J. Cetron has teamed with science writer Owen Davies for the latest update of their ongoing study four decades in the making.
Among the major trends added for this new edition are the rise of militant Islam and the evaporation of privacy.
This special publication of the World Future Society is excerpted in the March-April and May-June 2005 issues of THE FUTURIST.

R-2439. Reg $8, Mem $7.20. (Multiple-copy discounts available: 2-9 copies, Reg $6 each, Mem $5.40 each; 10-99 copies, Reg $4 each, Mem $3.60 each; 100+ copies, Reg $3 each, Mem $2.70 each). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

The Art of Foresight: Preparing for a Changing World Updated!
Foresight is the secret ingredient of success, because without it we cannot prepare for the future or create the future we desire. But in an age of hyperchange, developing foresight and seeing our way to the future is harder and harder.

Foresight techniques (such as trend analysis, scanning, scenario analysis, and more) are described, and a sample trend analysis (focusing on the growing population of elderly) shows foresight in action.

This 8-page report from the World Future Society, originally published in the May-June 2004 issue of THE FUTURIST and updated for 2006, offers guidance for honing the foresight you'll need to find opportunities and avoid crises.

Art of Foresight: 1 copy: $4 ($3.60 Members). 2-9 copies: $3 each ($2.70 Members). 10-99 copies: $2 each ($1.80 Members). 100+ copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). Order in the Futurist Bookshelf.

The Cyber Future: 93 Ways Our Lives Will Change by the Year 2025
Nanomachines will repair muscle and brain cells so we can enjoy perpetual youth. . . . Adults will be subject to constant, compulsory retraining to stay employable and off welfare's rolls. . . . And important global issues could be decided by a world parliament of computers.

These are just a few of the 93 provocative anticipations made by World Future Society President Edward Cornish in "The Cyber Future," a sweeping look at the world that infotech is shaping.

This 15-page special report was originally published in the January-February 1996 FUTURIST and has been revised and updated. R-1932. Single copy: $4.00 ($3.60 Members). 2-9 copies: $3.00 each ($2.70 Members). 10-99 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 100+ copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Future Careers
The insights of top workplace futurists were solicited for three articles in a special section of THE FUTURIST:

• Richard Samson describes the skills needed for working in the new economy. ("Hyperjobs: The New Higher-Level Work and How to Grow Into It")
• John Challenger shows how jobs will change in corporate settings. ("Working in the Future: How Today's Trends Are Shaping Tomorrow's Jobs")
• And Joyce Gioia and Roger Herman focus on how we can prepare ourselves today for tomorrow's jobs ("Career Planning for the 21st Century")

Originally published in the November-December 2005 FUTURIST, these three articles are now available as a 15-page special report.

Future Careers: One copy, $5 (Members, $4.50); 2-9 copies, $4 each (Members, $3.60); 10-99 copies, $3 each (Members, $2.70); 100+ copies, $2 each (Members, $1.80). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Lifestyles of the Next Millennium: 65 Forecasts
Two top trend watchers at advertising agencies, Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia, predict many of the ways that our lives will be impacted by new technologies and other developments.

Among their provocative forecasts are that parents will shop for progeny via mail-order catalogs with details about the egg and sperm donors. "Nannycams" hidden inside teddy bears and other security measures will give parents visual access to their children at daycare at all times. Company towns will reemerge as high-tech companies lure workers to subsidized apartments, houses, and condos that are wired to the workplace. And sabbaticals will become standard, allowing workers to take a break between career assignments to raise a family, go back to school, start their own businesses, or simply recharge themselves spiritually. "Lifestyles of the Next Millennium: 65 Forecasts" (6 pages) was originally published in the June-July 1998 issue of THE FUTURIST.

R-2154. Single copy: $3.00 ($2.70 Members). 2-9 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 10-99 copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). 100+ copies: $1.00 each (90¢ Members). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

The Opportunity Century: 50 Paths to Success in the 21st Century
In the years ahead, you'll be able to live and work anywhere in the world. You'll be able to become rich, famous, beautiful, and superstrong. You'll conquer diseases and disabilities, extend your life-span, and even expand your family tree into a family forest! The twenty-first century promises to be a period of unprecedented new opportunities to improve life on many different levels, personal and professional, local and global. The editors of THE FUTURIST have pored over hundreds of trends to identify 50 significant new opportunities that society and individuals will have in the years ahead, such as:

• Allow more people around the world to escape poverty.
• Reduce health-care costs.
• Invest in alternative energy.
• Improve life in large cities.
• Live in houses that aren't just smart, but "brilliant."
• Thwart the threat of terrorists.

In addition, the report features an article on "Genetic Forecasting: An Opportunity to Control Your Destiny" by Major James O. Wooten, a U.S. Air Force health-care administrator. The Opportunity Century, a 16-page special report, was originally published in the January-February 2000 issue of THE FUTURIST.

R-2315. Single copy: $4.00 ($3.60 Members). 2-9 copies: $3.00 each ($2.70 Members). 10-99 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 100+ copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Outlook 2007

Young Americans will increasingly migrate overseas in search of opportunities.... The costs of global-warming-related disasters could reach $150 billion per year.... Wireless technologies will be incorporated into our thought processing by 2030.... Children may face future health risks as they spend less time outdoors engaging in physical activity and communing with nature....

These are just a few of the dozens of thought-provoking forecasts and trends you'll find in the latest annual Outlook report from the World Future Society. Each year the editors review the ideas offered by researchers and scholars contributing to THE FUTURIST, summarizing those that may enrich your futures thinking in the year ahead.

Outlook 2007 is a 12-page report originally published in the November-December 2006 issue of THE FUTURIST.

Outlook is a great gift for anyone with an interest in the future, and it's a wonderful primer on futures studies.

Outlook 2007: 1 copy: $5 ($4.50 Members). 2-9 copies: $4 each ($3.60 Members). 10-99 copies: $3 each (Members, $2.70). 100+ copies: $2 each ($1.80 Members). Order in the Futurist Bookshelf.

Special Report on Happiness
Who is happy and why? And how can we assure ourselves of greater happiness in the future? This special report comprises three articles on the scientific pursuit of happiness.

In "Science Pursues Happiness," psychologists David G. Myers and Ed Diener discuss scientific research data that reveal the traits of happy people and the impacts of relationships. In "Happiness and Creativity," Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, widely known for his "flow" theory of happiness, concentrates on the links between creativity and satisfaction with one's life.

In the final article, FUTURIST editor Edward Cornish reviews the research of economist Richard A. Easterlin, who warns that rising living standards do not necessarily lead to rising happiness.

The 15-page Special Report on Happiness originally appeared in the Sept.-Oct. 1997 issue of THE FUTURIST. R-2091. Single copy: $4.00 ($3.60 Members). 2-9 copies: $3.00 each ($2.70 Members). 10-99 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 100+ copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Technology's Promise: Highlights from the TechCast Project

• The Hydrogen Economy will seriously begin to supersede the Oil Economy by about 2020.
• The portability, power, and connectivity of media devices will make entertainment-on-demand a force to be reckoned with among mass-entertainment providers.
• Space tourism is on the verge of "a golden age," as short, suborbital flights become more affordable--and whet the public's appetite for longer adventures.

These and other forecasts appear in "Technology's Promise: Highlights from the TechCast Project" by George Washington University science and innovation professor William E. Halal.

The ongoing TechCast Project pools the insights of 100 high-tech executives, scientists, engineers, academics, consultants, futurists, and other leading experts around the world to outline how the technology revolution is poised to transform life over the next 20 to 30 years.

Technology's Promise is a 10-page report originally published in the November-December 2006 issue of THE FUTURIST.
Technology's Promise (PDF): $5.00 Order PDF.

The Top 10 Emerging Technologies
A timeline of emerging technologies and a glimpse into the breakthroughs that will change our lives in the decades to come are the highlights of a fascinating report, "The Top 10 Emerging Technologies," published by THE FUTURIST.

The report, written by George Washington University management professor William E. Halal, is an update of a unique project now in its second decade: The George Washington University Forecast of Technology and Strategy is an ongoing survey of experts in all scientific fields. The mission is to track technological developments and forecast precisely when these developments will become a part of everyday life.

Among the breakthroughs predicted for beyond 2010:

• Optical computers will begin replacing electronic devices in about 2015, enabling lightning-quick data transmission: The entire contents of the Library of Congress could be sent through a single fiber in only a second's time.
• Cloned organs will be available by 2020. Replacement organs will be grown from your own cells, eliminating the problems of donor-organ shortages and incompatibility.
• Humans will not only land on Mars, they'll stay there, establishing colonies by 2022.

"The Top 10 Emerging Technologies," a 12-page special report, was published in the July-August 2000 issue of THE FUTURIST and is now available as a special reprint for $4 each ($3.60 for World Future Society members). R-2344: Single copy: $4.00 ($3.60 Members). 2-9 copies: $3.00 each ($2.70 Members). 10-99 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 100+ copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members) Order in the Futurist bookshelf.

Trends and Forecasts For the New Millennium
Originally published in the August-September 1998 issue of THE FUTURIST, this insightful article covers developments in communications, medicine, business, demography, personal finance, and much more. R-2175. Single copy: $3.00 ($2.70 Members). 2-9 copies: $2.00 each ($1.80 Members). 10-99 copies: $1.50 each ($1.35 Members). 100+ copies: $1.00 each (90¢ Members) Order in the Futurist bookshelf.