The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change

Former Vice President Gore draws links and offers cautionary advice for individuals and governments alike in this exhaustive, historically-grounded argument about six concepts that he believes will exert the greatest influence on humanity's future. The global economy, the proliferation of the Internet and intelligent machines, a shift in the balance of global power, unsustainable growth and consumption, the rise of biotechnology, and the relationship between man and Earth's ecological systems are the broad areas explored here. With echoes of his previous books' calls for restrained consumption and the reestablishment of a "healthy and balanced relationship" between humanity and the natural world, Gore (The Assault on Reason) makes the seemingly contradictory argument that a properly restrained democratic capitalism "can serve the world better than any other economic system." Particularly interesting sections cover the effect of the Internet and the globally-integrated economy on cultural and national identity, the potential for advances in biotech to disrupt "the ecological system within our bodies," and possibilities for combating global warming. Gore's strengths lie in his passion for the subject and in his ability to take the long view by putting current events and trends in historical context, and they outweigh the dry tone and occasionally contradictory arguments. Agent: Andrew Wylie, The Wylie Agency. (Feb.)