Future Shock

Alvin Toffler

Random House, 1970 - Social Science - 505 pages

"The best study of our times that I know. . . . Of all the books that I have read in the last 20 years, it is by far the one that has taught me the most."--Le Figaro

Future Shock is about the present. Future Shock is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations--even our patterns of friendship and love.

Future Shock vividly describes the emerging global civilization: tomorrow's family life, the rise of new businesses, subcultures, life-styles, and human relationships--all of them temporary.

Future Shock illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless clich s about today.

Future Shock will intrigue, provoke, frighten, encourage, and, above all, change everyone who reads it.

Praise for Future Shock

"Explosive . . . brilliantly formulated."--The Wall Street Journal

"A spectacular outcrop of a formidable, organized intellectual effort."--Manchester Guardian

"Revealing, exciting, encouraging, brilliant."--The Christian Science Monitor

"Immensely readable."--Newsweek

"Alvin Toffler has sent something of a shock-wave through Western society."--London Daily Express

"To the elite . . . who often get committed to age-old institutions or material goals alone, let Toffler's Future Shock be a lesson and a warning."--The Times of India

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - RajivC - LibraryThing

If Alvin Toffler had authored this book in 2020, I may have dismissed this as a rant, and there are many people these days who are ranting about things like social media with all its attendant ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - mitchanderson - LibraryThing

Ignore the year of publication and rest assured — you’re sure to learn something of interest from Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock. Outside of a few dated terms, much of what Toffler speaks to — the ...

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• THE 800TH LIFETIME: 9
• THE ACCELERATIVE TERUST: 19
• THE PACE OF LIFE: 36
• THE THROWAWAY: 51
• THE NEW NOMADS: 74
• THE MODULAR MAN: 95
• THE COMING: 124
• THE KINETIC: 152
• TEE SCIENTIFIC TRAJECTORY: 185
• THE EXPERIENCE MAKERS: 219
• THE FRACTURED FAMILY: 238
• THE ORIGINS OF OVERCHOICE 283: 263
• A SURFEIT OF SUBCULTS: 284
• A DIVERSITY OF LIFE STYLES: 303
• THE PHYSICAL: 325
• COPING WITH TOMORROW: 371
• EDUCATION IN THE FUTURE: 398
• TAMING TECHNOLOGY: 428
• THE STRATEGY OF SOCIAL: 446
• Acknowledgments: 488
• Bibliography: 522
• Index: 541

About the author

Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) was an American writer and futurist whose list of bestselling books includes Future Shock, The Third Wave, and Powershift. He was a cofounder of Toffler Associates, a consulting firm for companies and governments worldwide on advances in economics, technology, and social change. In France, where his work won the prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book Prize), Alvin was named an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Future Shock; Bantam books
• Author: Alvin Toffler
• Edition: reprint, reissue
• Publisher: Random House, 1970
• ISBN: 0553277375, 9780553277371
• Length: 505 pages
• Subjects: Social Science / Customs & Traditions; Social Science / Future Studies