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34 Books You Must Get Immediately To Survive and Thrive
When Civilization Hits the Fan
Contact: Jed@MenAlive.com
Web: www.MenAlive.com
I still have my original copy, though it's falling apart. Most pages are covered with little
stars with underlines to remind me of important things to remember. It was a mind-
blowing book for me (I must admit that even as a 60s activist in Berkeley, books were
much more dazzling, exciting, and mind expanding than any drugs that were available).
The first line in the introduction grabbed me immediately and has held on to me for
nearly 40 years. "This is a book about what happens to people when they are
overwhelmed by change. It is about the ways in which we adapt -- or fail to adapt -- to
the future." Between 1965, when I graduated college and 1970, the future had kicked my
butt and slammed me up side of the head. I was disoriented, stunned, and wondered how
I was going survive what was heading my way.
As I devoured Future Shock the seeds of my new profession began to emerge. "First, it
became clear," says Toffler, "that future shock is no longer a distantly potential danger,
but a real sickness from which increasingly large numbers already suffer. This psycho-
biological condition can be described in medical psychiatric terms." I certainly didn't
learn about future shock during my brief stay in medical school, nor at U.C. Berkeley.
I was sure that these issues would attract the attention of scholars all over the world and
there would soon be schools offering degrees in futures studies and there would be
Futures Therapists hanging out their shingles in every town on the planet. The World
Future Society was founded in 1966 for people interested in how social and technological
developments are shaping the future. Their magazine The Futurist began publication
shortly thereafter. But the profession of Futures Therapist hasn't yet caught on.
If you were around then, think back to the world between 1965 and 1970 that Toffler
described in his book. Now think of the world today. Have things slowed down? Do
people seem less stressed? Are humans more in balance with themselves, each other, and
the natural world?
Here was the warning Toffler issued in 1970. "In the three short decades between now
and the twenty-first century, millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will
face an abrupt collision with the future. It may well be the most important disease of
tomorrow." Clearly tomorrow has arrived, yet where are the Futures Therapists to help
the millions, perhaps billions, of people cope with increasing rate of change we are
experiencing?
When I read Toffler in 1970 I was sure the medical and psychological professions, of
which I was now a member, would take note and respond. As Toffler told us, "Future
shock will not be found in Index Medicus or in any listing of psychological abnormalities.
Yet unless intelligent steps are taken to combat it, millions of human beings will find
themselves increasingly disoriented, progressively incompetent to deal rationally with
their environments. The malaise, mass neurosis, irrationality, and free-floating violence
already apparent in contemporary life are merely a foretaste of what may lie ahead unless
we come to understand and treat this disease."
Increasingly, the profession is treating these disorders with drugs. In his book,
Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation, Charles Barber says,
"American doctors dispense approximately 230 million antidepressant prescriptions
every year." And that's just one class of drugs, in one country. Are we really treating the
right problem with the right regimen? I don't think so. Could all the symptoms we are
experiencing be better understood as Future Shock and better treated by Futures
Therapists than Medications Therapists? I do think so.
Most writers are avid readers and I'm no exception. However, my book shelf space is
limited so I'm always giving away my books or donating them to the local library for
their annual book sale. The books I keep over the years are ones that I find I go back to
again and again. For those who would like to consider the profession of Futures
Therapist, I offer the following reading list:
If you are a Futures Therapist or are thinking of becoming one, drop and note and tell me
about your interests. What books would you add to the list?
Jed@MenAlive.com
www.MenAlive.com