Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age - Hardcover

Johnson, Steven

3.68

1,042 ratings by Goodreads

9781594488207: Future Perfect: The Case for Progress in a Networked Age

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594488207 ISBN 13: 9781594488207

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2012

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Combining the deft social analysis of Where Good Ideas Come From with the optimistic arguments ofEverything Bad Is Good For You, New York Times bestselling author Steven Johnson’sFuture Perfect makes the case that a new model of political change is on the rise, transforming everything from local governments to classrooms, from protest movements to health care. Johnson paints a compelling portrait of this new political worldview -- influenced by the success and interconnectedness of the Internet, by peer networks, but not dependent on high-tech solutions -- that breaks with the conventional categories of liberal or conservative, public vs. private thinking.

With his acclaimed gift for multi-disciplinary storytelling and big idea books, Johnson explores this new vision of progress through a series of fascinating narratives: from the miracle on the Hudson” to the planning of the French railway system; from the battle against malnutrition in Vietnam to a mysterious outbreak of strange smells in downtown Manhattan; from underground music video artists to the invention of the Internet itself.

At a time when the conventional wisdom holds that the political system is hopelessly gridlocked with old ideas,Future Perfect makes the timely and inspiring case that progress is still possible, and that innovative strategies are on the rise. This is a hopeful, affirmative outlook for the future, from one of the most brilliant and inspiring visionaries of contemporary culture.

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Review:

If you're a pessimist-and chances are you are-you should read Future Perfect. In fact, read it even if you're an optimist, because Mr. Johnson's book will give you lots of material to brighten the outlook of your gloomy friends...it envisions a new political movement (Wall Street Journal)

An informative, tech-savvy and provocative vision of a new and more democratic public philosophy. A breath of fresh air a breath of fresh air in an age of gridlock, cynicism and disillusionment (San Francisco Chronicle)

A buoyant and hopeful book ... Future Perfect reminds us we already have the treatment. We just need to use it (Boston Globe)

An articulate manifesto (Clive Cookson Financial Times)

About the Author:

Steven Johnson is the author of seven bestsellers, including Where Good Ideas Come From,The Invention of Air, The Ghost Map, and Everything Bad Is Good for You, and is the editor of the anthologyThe Innovator’s Cookbook. He is the founder of a variety of influential websitesmost recently, outside.inand writes forTime, Wired, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Marin County, California, with his wife and three sons.

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