The Meaning of the 21st Century: A VItal Blueprint of Ensuring Our Future [平装]

A devastating analysis of the direction we are headed and a powerful prescription for change — from the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of The Wired Society.

James Martin, one of the world’s most widely respected authorities on the impact of technology on society, argues that we are living at a turning point in human history. “We are travelling at breakneck speed into an era of extremes — extremes of wealth and poverty, extremes in technology, extremes in globalization. If we are to survive, we must learn how to manage them all.” In researching this volume, the author interviewed forty world experts in fields as diverse as information technology, medical ethics, climate change, and the economics of poverty. Martin contends that although we face huge challenges and conflicts, it is in the scientific breakthroughs of the new century that we will find new hope. In clear, penetrating and insightful prose, he addresses the key questions of our age and proposes an interconnected set of solutions to these problems.

“A fire bell warning . . . Any political or business leader (or young person) eager to make history should begin by reading James Martin’s hopeful and crucial blueprint.”
–Hernando De Soto, author of The Mystery of Capital

“To survive the difficult 21st century we will need all that technology can offer, but in addition, we need the optimistic belief in it that James Martin’s book provides.”
–James Lovelock, author of Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth