This week’s Resource Recommendation: The Next Hundred Million – America in 2050
By Joel Kotkin
It is said we should be interested in the future for that is where we will be living. Because I am interested in the future, I was drawn to this book.
What will the United States look like with 400 million residents? That is the big question author Joel Kotkin poses and spends this entire book trying to answer.
This fascinating and overall very optimistic look at the United States in 2050 is based on data of all sorts which is amply provided (and referenced) throughout. While it carries lots of data, the book read almost like a novel to me -; that’s how interesting I found the findings and analysis.
Kotkin jumps in and immediately forges his basic premises in a global context; then spends the bulk of the book on the major trends he sees for the next forty years, including predictions about what cities will look like (think Houston rather than Chicago), the continued growth and health of suburbs, the rise in importance of the heartland for more than food production, and much more.
His arguments make sense and cause me to think about both short and long term decisions in new ways. Will all of his guesses be correct? Probably not; futurology is hardly a 20/20 vision proposition. I do however feel he will be more right than wrong, in part because he comes from a curious academic perspective rather than a particular ideological or political perspective.
If you are interested in big ideas, are running a company or planning to live for much or all of the next 40 years, I recommend you pick up and read this book. I believe you will find it as fun, fascinating and profitable as I have.
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