'A beautifully turned, calmly persuasive but urgent book' IAN MCEWAN
'A landmark book that could help to build a much brighter future' DAVID
ROBSON
A wide-ranging and thought-provoking exploration of the importance of
long-term thinking.
Humans are unique in our ability to understand time, able to comprehend
the past and future like no other species. Yet modern-day technology and
capitalism have supercharged our short-termist tendencies and trapped us
in the present, at the mercy of reactive politics, quarterly business
targets and 24-hour news cycles.
It wasn't always so. In medieval times, craftsmen worked on cathedrals
that would be unfinished in their lifetime. Indigenous leaders fostered
intergenerational reciprocity. And in the early twentieth century,
writers dreamed of worlds thousands of years hence. Now, as we face
long-term challenges on an unprecedented scale, how do we recapture that
far-sighted vision?
Richard Fisher takes us from the boardrooms of Japan - home to some of
the world's oldest businesses - to an Australian laboratory where an
experiment started a century ago is still going strong. He examines the
psychological biases that discourage the long view, and talks to the
growing number of people from the worlds of philosophy, technology,
science and the arts who are exploring smart ways to overcome them. How
can we learn to widen our perception of time and honour our obligations
to the lives of those not yet born?
**Praise for *The Long View:
'A wise, humane book laced with curiosity and hope. It will open your
mind and horizons - and leave you giddy at the prospect of all that we
may yet become.' Tom Chatfield, author of How to Think
'Hope-filled and revelatory ... Beautifully readable and scholarly, rich
and personal, this book shows how, to leave a robust legacy for the
future, we need to overcome our bias for the present.' Rowan Hooper,
author of How to Spend a Trillion Dollars
'A soaring hymn to all that might lie in the future; alongside the
diverse and beautiful ways to think about it. Overflowing with wisdom
and insight.' Thomas Moynihan, author of X-Risk
' In a world of short-sightedness, The Long View is a helpful guide to
understand and connect us to the future. In the light of the climate
emergency, long-term thinking is more urgent than ever.' Andri Snær
Magnason, author of On Time and Water
'The Long View is a manifesto calling for a radical reconception of
our relationship with time. Richard Fisher documents the social,
psychological, and economic reasons we have become stranded on the
Island of Now - and charts routes for us to get back to the mainland.'
Marcia Bjornerud, the author of Timefulness...
