Book Review: A Century of Tomorrows
Here’s my review of A Century of Tomorrows by Glenn Adamson. Don’t forget to leave a comment if you’ve read it or plan to read it soon.
A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present by Glenn Adamson is packed full of facts and information on the movers and shakers of futurology. The book starts with detailing how the turn from spiritual and religious beliefs to come to terms with the future shifts to a more secular and modern understanding of the future during the first quarter of the 1900s, then ends with an open-ended but surprisingly upbeat message: “We owe the future all the enthusiasm and imagination we can summon in ourselves.” (p.267)
First, it must be emphasized that this book is at its core a history book, so it’s packed full of names, dates, events, movements, and epochs regarding futurology. It is a book about the history of futurology, and the people who grappled with it during the late 1800s to the early 2000s. It is not a manifesto or indictment for futurologists and does not provide any attempts to predict the future. It mainly grapples with the contradictions and problems notable futurologists (who are in many ways the exact opposite of dystopians) faced and explored during the specified time period.
It should also be noted that this book does not have a narrative-like structure. Instead, it reads more like a traditional history book, moving coherently from one fact and time period to the next, linearly, expertly tying a ton of sources and information together in a sequential manner. So, it will not be dry and boring as long as you are sincerely interested in learning more about the movers and shakers of futurology in the late 1800s to early 2000s, along with a lot of dates and facts too. If you are expecting anything other than that, you might be disappointed.
That said, I was more than impressed by the thoroughness and wide reach of Adamson’s sources, and how deep he dug into futurology. Bravo! I sincerely appreciated how he integrated things like the counter-culture movements of the 1960s, popular films, Indigenous practices, jazz and funk music, visual art, feminist theory, and literature, into a history of futurology that is typically dominated by humans’ complicated relationship with machines and technology and commerce (though he does cover those things too, of course). I especially appreciated the excerpts on Octavia E. Butler’s writings and interviews at the end. At times, however, the amount of data and information being shared per page and chapter was a bit overwhelming to follow, and the thread of how it all connected to futurology in the 1900s became intermittently lost.
Ultimately, there could have been entire books written about some of the topics introduced in various chapters (i.e. films and futurology in the 1900s, feminist theory and futurology in the 1900s, pop culture and futurology in the 1900s, commercial business practices and futurology in the 1900s, etc.). Which is to say that, personally, I would have appreciated the book being organized by topics instead of linearly by time, especially since conceptions of time itself are explored throughout the book and sometimes called into question on a philosophical level. Traditional historians will probably not agree with this preference, I am aware. So, if you are a tried-and-true traditional history buff, you will probably want to disregard that note. It is, however, my opinion as a general reader of history.
Overall, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to those readers who want to learn more about the history of futurology in the late 1800s to early 1900s. It was an informative and refreshing read on futurology, all in all, and I truly appreciated its Conclusion too.
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