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Title: The 500 Year Delta : What Happens After What Comes Next by Jim Taylor, Watts Wacker ISBN: 0887309119 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: July, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting and insightful but overly wordy
Comment: In short the book could have been about 60% shorter. At times the hypothesis drawn are illuminating but very often the authors are spending entirely too much time to support their insights. My feeling is that anyone reading a book such as this doesn't necessarily need a whole lot of convincing as long as there is some sound rationale and telling examples to support the theories.
Having just completed the book I would recommend that anyone interested in picking up the book just look at the last 15 pages to get a sense of the nature of the book where the authors make predictions regarding the next 500 months and the next 500 years.
There are however some very keen insights on the power and use of technology (connectivity), tribalism, the role of corporations and government, business and social constructs, the importance of constant education, the nature of chaos, the power of the consumer... and almost all of this is addressed from primarily a marketing perspective.
There was very little that was written that I disagreed with but I feel like the same thing could have been said in many fewer words.
Rating: 5
Summary: More Questions than Answers
Comment: What a book! Anyone looking for Answers or to know what the future will be need not apply. The author's whole point is that there are no answers, and we have to manage our way through the paradoxes as best we can. This is important, unfortunately this point is not always clear in the text - sometimes one is left hanging, wondering whether a question has been asked or a statement made. (hence the lost point, chaps) Maybe I just don't translate American all that well, being English and divided only by language!
What Paradoxes? Things are getting bigger. And smaller. Things are going faster. And slower. Things are going global. And local. So the key is to know your self (a point they do make) and this puts me in mind of a quote I read (and can't find so I'll misquote it if I may:-
"Give me the strength to change the things I need to change, the perserverence to put up with the things I can't change and the wisdom to know the difference."
I am also intrigued by the 'back to the future' angle the authors use - 'futurists better be good historians' sounds like another paradox to me.
Overall a good read - a waypoint on the journey with a few good hints and tips. Some other waypoints I have found on mine-
Having a few good heros helps (strangely there are not many of these in this in the book) - so check out Horatio Nelson (Christopher Hibbert) - how can one so flawed become so great?
The Art of War by Sun Tzu (full text is on the net), I have a printed version with a forward by James Clavell - again notable in its absence.
Built to Last (Collins & Porrass - two more Stanford Alumini) which treats the Paradox question as a dualistic concept from Chinese religious philosophy (!).
Bon Voyage!
Rating: 5
Summary: A must-read for anyone interested in the future!
Comment: This book is a "tough read" -- you've got to concentrate and often re-read passages immediately. However, it is a book that will completely readjust your vision of work and life as the "Age of Chaos" emerges from the "Age of Reason." Given the authors' superb track record, we'd all better pay close attention to what they have to say here. The book works on several levels for readers: personally, professionally and even for potential investors. It should be must-reading for all entreprenuers at the very least.
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