- Hardcover: 492 pages
- Publisher: Alfred A Knopf; First Edition edition (25 Jun 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0375401741
- ISBN-13: 978-0375401749
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 466,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Starting with the publication of their seminal bestseller, Future Shock, Alvin and Heidi Toffler have given millions of readers new ways to think about personal life in today’s high-speed world with its constantly changing, seemingly random impacts on our businesses, governments, families and daily lives. Now, writing with the same rare grasp and clarity that made their earlier books classics, the Tofflers turn their attention to the revolution in wealth now sweeping the planet. And once again, they provide a penetrating, coherent way to make sense of the seemingly senseless.
Revolutionary Wealth is about how tomorrow’s wealth will be created, and who will get it and how. But twenty-first-century wealth, according to the Tofflers, is not just about money, and cannot be understood in terms of industrial-age economics. Thus they write here about everything from education and child rearing to Hollywood and China, from everyday truth and misconceptions to what they call our “third job”—the unnoticed work we do without pay for some of the biggest corporations in our country.
They show the hidden connections between extreme sports, chocolate chip cookies, Linux software and the “surplus complexity” in our lives as society wobbles back and forth between depressing decadence and a hopeful post-decadence.
In their earlier work, the Tofflers coined the word “prosumer” for people who consume what they themselves produce. In Revolutionary Wealth they expand the concept to reveal how many of our activities—whether parenting or volunteering, blogging, painting our house, improving our diet, organizing a neighborhood council or even “mashing” music—pump “free lunch” from the “hidden” non-money economy into the money economy that economists track. Prosuming, they forecast, is about to explode and compel radical changes in the way we measure, make and manipulate wealth.
Blazing with fresh ideas, Revolutionary Wealth provides readers with powerful new tools for thinking about—and preparing for—their future.
Revolutionary Wealth is about how tomorrow’s wealth will be created, and who will get it and how. But twenty-first-century wealth, according to the Tofflers, is not just about money, and cannot be understood in terms of industrial-age economics. Thus they write here about everything from education and child rearing to Hollywood and China, from everyday truth and misconceptions to what they call our “third job”—the unnoticed work we do without pay for some of the biggest corporations in our country.
They show the hidden connections between extreme sports, chocolate chip cookies, Linux software and the “surplus complexity” in our lives as society wobbles back and forth between depressing decadence and a hopeful post-decadence.
In their earlier work, the Tofflers coined the word “prosumer” for people who consume what they themselves produce. In Revolutionary Wealth they expand the concept to reveal how many of our activities—whether parenting or volunteering, blogging, painting our house, improving our diet, organizing a neighborhood council or even “mashing” music—pump “free lunch” from the “hidden” non-money economy into the money economy that economists track. Prosuming, they forecast, is about to explode and compel radical changes in the way we measure, make and manipulate wealth.
Blazing with fresh ideas, Revolutionary Wealth provides readers with powerful new tools for thinking about—and preparing for—their future.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Futurism is fun! Alvin and Heidi Toffler have been proving that for a long time as they informed us about Future Shock (the accelerating pace of life) and The Third Wave (knowledge-driven economies). The essence of the task is to take straws in the wind and project them forward to ask "what if?" thus and so were to accelerate. As a result, the use of such thinking is to inspire us . . . rather than precisely project the future. Entrepreneurs will take some of these insights and create trillion dollar industries. Will you be one of them? Perhaps not, unless you read the book.
For most people, the book will be a wake-up call in a number of areas. If you regularly read about emerging trends . . . especially in technology, globalization, and finance, you won't find that much new here in terms of trends. You will find interesting perspectives on those trends that may differ from what you've read before.
If you don't have the luxury to immerse yourself in trends, this book will be a revelation that you'll enjoy.
For me, the new perspectives in the book came in the following areas:
1. Globalization in terms of economic intertwining is not inevitably destined to increase. In fact, many trends point to the possibility of a reversal of increasing globalization at some future point. That was an interesting thought to consider which has large investing consequences.
2. Economic statistics are falling further and further behind in measuring what's really going on in production and consumption . . . particularly as people produce and consume more for themselves. A lot of our economic surprises probably relate to changes in what isn't being measured.
3. Emerging market countries are increasingly trying to compete at the cutting edge of the most advanced knowledge-based industries like nanotechnology and biotechnology rather than being satisfied to provide low-cost labor and other physical resources.
4. Poverty is more likely to be eased through sharing knowledge resources inexpensively with the poor so they can improve their own lot than by doing more for the poor in a physical sense (the traditional aid approach).
You'll probably take different food for thought from the book. Rich in examples and optimism, you'll find plenty to stimulate your mind and your conversations for months to come.
To me, the book would have been stronger if the Tofflers had tried to forge ahead further into the implications of current trends. They usually just inched a few years ahead in looking at issues and potential.
For most people, the book will be a wake-up call in a number of areas. If you regularly read about emerging trends . . . especially in technology, globalization, and finance, you won't find that much new here in terms of trends. You will find interesting perspectives on those trends that may differ from what you've read before.
If you don't have the luxury to immerse yourself in trends, this book will be a revelation that you'll enjoy.
For me, the new perspectives in the book came in the following areas:
1. Globalization in terms of economic intertwining is not inevitably destined to increase. In fact, many trends point to the possibility of a reversal of increasing globalization at some future point. That was an interesting thought to consider which has large investing consequences.
2. Economic statistics are falling further and further behind in measuring what's really going on in production and consumption . . . particularly as people produce and consume more for themselves. A lot of our economic surprises probably relate to changes in what isn't being measured.
3. Emerging market countries are increasingly trying to compete at the cutting edge of the most advanced knowledge-based industries like nanotechnology and biotechnology rather than being satisfied to provide low-cost labor and other physical resources.
4. Poverty is more likely to be eased through sharing knowledge resources inexpensively with the poor so they can improve their own lot than by doing more for the poor in a physical sense (the traditional aid approach).
You'll probably take different food for thought from the book. Rich in examples and optimism, you'll find plenty to stimulate your mind and your conversations for months to come.
To me, the book would have been stronger if the Tofflers had tried to forge ahead further into the implications of current trends. They usually just inched a few years ahead in looking at issues and potential.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Prosuming, De-Massification, Reversible Globalization, Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology
10 Nov 2006
Format:Hardcover
Futurism is fun! Alvin and Heidi Toffler have been proving that for a long time as they informed us about Future Shock (the accelerating pace of life) and The Third Wave (knowledge-driven economies). The essence of the task is to take straws in the wind and project them forward to ask "what if?" thus and so were to accelerate. As a result, the use of such thinking is to inspire us . . . rather than precisely project the future. Entrepreneurs will take some of these insights and create trillion dollar industries. Will you be one of them? Perhaps not, unless you read the book.
For most people, the book will be a wake-up call in a number of areas. If you regularly read about emerging trends . . . especially in technology, globalization, and finance, you won't find that much new here in terms of trends. You will find interesting perspectives on those trends that may differ from what you've read before.
If you don't have the luxury to immerse yourself in trends, this book will be a revelation that you'll enjoy.
For me, the new perspectives in the book came in the following areas:
1. Globalization in terms of economic intertwining is not inevitably destined to increase. In fact, many trends point to the possibility of a reversal of increasing globalization at some future point. That was an interesting thought to consider which has large investing consequences.
2. Economic statistics are falling further and further behind in measuring what's really going on in production and consumption . . . particularly as people produce and consume more for themselves. A lot of our economic surprises probably relate to changes in what isn't being measured.
3. Emerging market countries are increasingly trying to compete at the cutting edge of the most advanced knowledge-based industries like nanotechnology and biotechnology rather than being satisfied to provide low-cost labor and other physical resources.
4. Poverty is more likely to be eased through sharing knowledge resources inexpensively with the poor so they can improve their own lot than by doing more for the poor in a physical sense (the traditional aid approach).
You'll probably take different food for thought from the book. Rich in examples and optimism, you'll find plenty to stimulate your mind and your conversations for months to come.
To me, the book would have been stronger if the Tofflers had tried to forge ahead further into the implications of current trends. They usually just inched a few years ahead in looking at issues and potential.
For most people, the book will be a wake-up call in a number of areas. If you regularly read about emerging trends . . . especially in technology, globalization, and finance, you won't find that much new here in terms of trends. You will find interesting perspectives on those trends that may differ from what you've read before.
If you don't have the luxury to immerse yourself in trends, this book will be a revelation that you'll enjoy.
For me, the new perspectives in the book came in the following areas:
1. Globalization in terms of economic intertwining is not inevitably destined to increase. In fact, many trends point to the possibility of a reversal of increasing globalization at some future point. That was an interesting thought to consider which has large investing consequences.
2. Economic statistics are falling further and further behind in measuring what's really going on in production and consumption . . . particularly as people produce and consume more for themselves. A lot of our economic surprises probably relate to changes in what isn't being measured.
3. Emerging market countries are increasingly trying to compete at the cutting edge of the most advanced knowledge-based industries like nanotechnology and biotechnology rather than being satisfied to provide low-cost labor and other physical resources.
4. Poverty is more likely to be eased through sharing knowledge resources inexpensively with the poor so they can improve their own lot than by doing more for the poor in a physical sense (the traditional aid approach).
You'll probably take different food for thought from the book. Rich in examples and optimism, you'll find plenty to stimulate your mind and your conversations for months to come.
To me, the book would have been stronger if the Tofflers had tried to forge ahead further into the implications of current trends. They usually just inched a few years ahead in looking at issues and potential.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
We are on the edge of an amazing future. What changes lay ahead? What skills will you need to be successful and happy? Will you be ready?
Alvin and Heidi Toffler are futurists. They have studied and written predictions of the future for decades.
Their first book, Future Shock was released back in 1970. It was thoroughly researched and critically thought through. Many of their predictions came true.
Revolutionary Wealth also makes predictions about the future. Since their past books were proven to be accurate on many topics, it's fair to assume that their latest book will provide many insightful thoughts about the future.
Here are just a few of the topics: Waves of wealth, the edge of knowledge, the gospel of change, implosion, capitalism's end game, running tomorrow's money and much more.
The book is a page turner and provides a peek into what can and probably will happen depending on the paths that we as society take.
Here are some key excerpts from their work.
The Wealth System
"If the First Wave wealth system was chiefly based on growing things, and the Second Wave on making things, the Third Wave wealth system is increasingly based on serving, thinking, knowing and experiencing...The new wealth system demands a complete shake-up in the way increasingly temporary skill sets are organized for increasingly temporary purposes throughout the economy. Nothing is more deeply fundamental to the creation of wealth."
Knowledge
"In each of us there is a crowded, invisible warehouse full of knowledge and its precursor data and information. But unlike a warehouse, it is also a workshop in which we--or, more accurately, the electrochemicals in our brains--continually shift, add, subtract, combine and rearrange numbers, symbols, words, images, and memories, combining them with emotions to form new thoughts."
Cross Disciplinary Knowledge Required
"More and more jobs require cross-disciplinary knowledge, so that we find increasing need for hyphenated backgrounds--"Astro-biologist," "bio-physicist," "environmental-engineer," "forensic-accountant.""
A New Dawn
"Living at the dawn of this century, we are direct or indirect participants in the design of a new civilization with a revolutionary wealth system at its core. Will this process complete itself--or will the still incomplete wealth revolution come to a crashing halt?" 1
The message is clear. Those who will succeed and prosper in the coming years will have the following skills and backgrounds:
* Decision making
* Knowledge
* Schooling
* Experience
* Reasoning
* Intuition
* Common sense
* Confidence
These skills and background can be boiled down to three words: Critical Thinking Skills. With these skills you will be prepared for whatever challenges the future presents.
As with his book Future Shock and other books he has written, Toffler has an amazing ability to look at the very beginning of trends and then extrapolate a future out of those trends. His predications come from interviews with many world experts. Toffler then uses his critical thinking skills to integrating everything he has learned. From this knowledge he constructs a vision of the future. Not only that, he provides options we should consider to create a positive future for ourselves.
Knowledge is power:
This is a must read book to gain a glance into what tomorrow brings! It can be positive if we take the right steps...there is hope!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
Alvin and Heidi Toffler are futurists. They have studied and written predictions of the future for decades.
Their first book, Future Shock was released back in 1970. It was thoroughly researched and critically thought through. Many of their predictions came true.
Revolutionary Wealth also makes predictions about the future. Since their past books were proven to be accurate on many topics, it's fair to assume that their latest book will provide many insightful thoughts about the future.
Here are just a few of the topics: Waves of wealth, the edge of knowledge, the gospel of change, implosion, capitalism's end game, running tomorrow's money and much more.
The book is a page turner and provides a peek into what can and probably will happen depending on the paths that we as society take.
Here are some key excerpts from their work.
The Wealth System
"If the First Wave wealth system was chiefly based on growing things, and the Second Wave on making things, the Third Wave wealth system is increasingly based on serving, thinking, knowing and experiencing...The new wealth system demands a complete shake-up in the way increasingly temporary skill sets are organized for increasingly temporary purposes throughout the economy. Nothing is more deeply fundamental to the creation of wealth."
Knowledge
"In each of us there is a crowded, invisible warehouse full of knowledge and its precursor data and information. But unlike a warehouse, it is also a workshop in which we--or, more accurately, the electrochemicals in our brains--continually shift, add, subtract, combine and rearrange numbers, symbols, words, images, and memories, combining them with emotions to form new thoughts."
Cross Disciplinary Knowledge Required
"More and more jobs require cross-disciplinary knowledge, so that we find increasing need for hyphenated backgrounds--"Astro-biologist," "bio-physicist," "environmental-engineer," "forensic-accountant.""
A New Dawn
"Living at the dawn of this century, we are direct or indirect participants in the design of a new civilization with a revolutionary wealth system at its core. Will this process complete itself--or will the still incomplete wealth revolution come to a crashing halt?" 1
The message is clear. Those who will succeed and prosper in the coming years will have the following skills and backgrounds:
* Decision making
* Knowledge
* Schooling
* Experience
* Reasoning
* Intuition
* Common sense
* Confidence
These skills and background can be boiled down to three words: Critical Thinking Skills. With these skills you will be prepared for whatever challenges the future presents.
As with his book Future Shock and other books he has written, Toffler has an amazing ability to look at the very beginning of trends and then extrapolate a future out of those trends. His predications come from interviews with many world experts. Toffler then uses his critical thinking skills to integrating everything he has learned. From this knowledge he constructs a vision of the future. Not only that, he provides options we should consider to create a positive future for ourselves.
Knowledge is power:
This is a must read book to gain a glance into what tomorrow brings! It can be positive if we take the right steps...there is hope!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
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