Book Review: The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler

 

Book Name: The Third Wave 

Writer: Alvin Toffler (wikipedia, Youtube )

The Human quest to discern the future is as old as the consciousness of the human to care about the future. We always want to know what is going to happen in the future. We devised a lot of ways of doing this from astrology to tarot cards, from oracles to the sophisticated modern machines. But this quest is still going on. Predicting the future is a profession today. People from different races and expertise claim that they know what is going to happen in the future (yes they just claim). Share market expert is one such race, especially short-term traders. By looking at historical charts they predict the future (at least this is what they claim). Though the accuracy of such claims is always a matter of debate.

At the beginning of the book, the reader may feel that the writer wants to be a modern-day oracle. But as the reader progresses through the book, he/she may realize that how accurately the future is foretold. Though in the book it is never clearly mentioned that it is about prophesying the imminent. Hence, the reader never gets uninterested in the writing. It is also an emblem of good writing skills that the reader always feels bound with the book.

Few things written in the book are simply amazing like

• ·         The prediction is that organizations will show caring about the society or country they operate in.
• ·         Organizations try to address the issue of pollution (be cognizant that the book was written in 1981).
• ·         Quality of output will be more important.
• ·         Office hours will reduce, including working days also.
• ·         Work from anywhere (what if someone was reading the book before COVID times).
• ·         Women participants will increase in economic activities. They will get equal rights at the workplace.
• ·         Minorities will get equal rights (LGBTQ was not specifically mentioned).
• ·         E-commerce.
• ·         Electronic payments.
• ·         Families will keep getting shorter (it is not mentioned that will there ever be more individuals than families).
• ·         Humans will not do repetitive works (AI or ML not mentioned in the absolute term).
• ·         Space exploration and manufacturing in space.

Any many more.

The most amazing thing about the book is that it is so relevant today that readers may forget that it was written 40 years ago. Though I must confess that few important events of 21^st century were missed out in this book, like mobile phone, access to the internet, etc.

In the end, I want to say that this book is a must-read. The book is not standard 250-300 pager non-fiction but a bit longer, but the content justifies the length. I am sure that some sections of the book will remain relevant even after 10-20 years from now.