Global Trends 2005 : An Owner's Manual for the Next Decade

Rating:
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: The outlook of the book is neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but as realistic as possible. This book should provide a great jumping off point for anyone interested in the specific areas discussed, which involve most trends affecting policy making today.

The author proves prescient on a number of points: the recent increased conflict in Palestine, the Mexican election results, the recent run up in energy costs, the movements of the various world markets on perception more than concrete results, and the growing gap between the world's 'haves' and 'have nots'.

If you are looking for something in the line of Alvin Toffler, but don't want to wade through all of his volumes, this is a great geo-real-politik starter. And he's at least willing to stick his neck out: Democracy in China by 2015!

Rating:
Summary: Putting It Together
Review: What I found wonderfully invigorating about Global Trends 2005 is that it draws upon so many vastly different strands of contemporary knowledge and understanding and weaves them together in a manner that is at once challenging, provocative, and accessible. Make no mistake, this is a rigorous exercise in holistic thinking. But it's also a fun--if sobering--read. That's because the author writes in a personal, plain-spoken manner that conveys an exceptionally bright yet level-headed way of making sense of our world as it lurches into the 21st century. Michael J. Mazarr points out more seriously complex problems on the horizon than most of us would care to think about. Yet he never acts the part of the shrill alarmist that is so typical of books of this nature. Nor, when he shifts his focus to globalization's potential for worldwide benefit (e.g., attacking Third World poverty), does he play the chirpy cheerleader that is all too often the alternative persona of futurologists. This book is an exemplary instance of well-balanced multidisciplinary thinking about our now deeply entrenched information society and the simultaneously good and bad prospects that it presents to the interdependent corners of the globe.

Rating:
Summary: reliable?
Review: would you consider reliable an author that cites on his book an incorrect chart?

On page 55 the table 2.1 called "water scarcities in the Middle East and Africa" includes in those geographic areas Peru, Haiti and Barbados. Peru is a South American country, and Haiti and Barbados are in the Caribbean area !!!