• The Next 100 Years

  • A Forecast for the 21st Century
  • By: George Friedman
  • Narrated by: William Hughes
  • Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (2,290 ratings)

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The Next 100 Years

By: George Friedman
Narrated by: William Hughes
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Publisher's summary

George Friedman, founder of Stratfor, has become a leading expert in geopolitical forecasting, sought after for his thoughtful assessments of current trends and near-future events.

In The Next 100 Years, Friedman turns his eye on the future. Drawing on a profound understanding of history and geopolitical patterns dating back to the Roman Empire, he shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, experiencing the dawn of a new historical cycle.

©2009 George Friedman (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A unique combination of cold-eyed realism and boldly confident fortune-telling....Whether all of the visions in Friedman's crystal ball actually materialize, they certainly make for engrossing entertainment." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about The Next 100 Years

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Hasn't aged well

This book came out in 2009 and I'm reading it in 2020. It seems that predicting even 10 years out is as difficult as prognosticating about the coming century. The premise that the 21st century will be defined by how other nations cope with the unstoppable ascendancy of the United States seems absurd now that, in the age of Trump, the real struggle seems to be how to fill the gap left by the retreat of the United States as a world-class player in international affairs and indeed even in its own governance.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

I already have a crystal ball

Starts out fairly interesting, but after a while, the assumptions are built into a house of cards that just can't sustain the author's conclusions. While the author seems to have a good grasp of military history, he's significantly less clear on economic issues.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Good Start - slow end

Good start and good topic over all. The main problem was that it dragged on towards the last third..... and the length made it hard for me to keep all the interconnected pieces together in my head. Probably could have been cut down a bit IMHO.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great First Half

I found the first half of "The Next 100 Years" was mostly fascinating. In the second half, however, I felt Mr. Friedman became too carried away with his own fictional scenario. This required suspension of disbelief beyond my ability.

In his summation, his dismissal of global warming as having any significant impact on the geopolitics of the future -- on the basis that birth rate trends and technology will solve the problem -- ignores the possibility that a tipping point may be reached too early in the 21st century for any reversal therefrom.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Think Ahead

This month Bryan Alexander has a terrific article out " Apprehending the Future: Emerging Technologies, from Science Fiction to Campus Reality" in Educause Review Alexander writes about the various methods that we try to understand the future, where Friedman is about scenarios rather then methods. 100 years may seem too far to look ahead, the but the exercise of looking towards the future is one of the best ways we have to understand where we are today. I'd like to see the 100 year lens applied to education and technology. Friedman is all about looking at the next 100 years of geopolitics, of war, and somewhat of the economy.

I have some agreement with Friedman in terms of a coming labor shortage and the massive consequences of a rapidly aging society. I'm not sure if Poland will become the major power that Friedman predicts (but I do agree about Turkey). A fun book to get lost in, a good read for any of us who enjoy predicting the future in our own little worlds.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Shockingly good!

I absolutely enjoyed this book! Listen to this book because it will truly explain how the US got to where it is today and where it is going. It's an amazing lesson in history.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good listen, though a bit indulgent

This book is a good listen. I think the point of the book is beyond the predictions it espouses but rather the logic and geopolitical history that underpins his assertions. That said, he was pushing his luck by the end of the book with his "predictions" especially considering how quantum leaps in technology and "basic science" impacts society and culture (an issue only grazed on by the author).

I found it thorough and a good listen especially on Eastern European issues. Outside of North Africa he failed to discuss the rest of the continent. I find that to be a big oversight in the book given the history and role Africa has played (albeit not always voluntarily!) in global politics. So are readers to presume that the entire African subcontinent will not have any significant role in geopolitics in the next 100 years? He should have at least dedicated one chapter to Africa and its inter-relationships with the assertions he is making. That oversight leaves some holes in his strategic logic that diminishes the value in my mind. That said, it was worth a critical listening too. I will get a print copy when I'm book shopping too.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Too much fiction in this nonfiction piece?

The author makes a number of assumptions that have, since the book was first published, not come true. I will wait to update this review in 90 years to see if the rest of the book makes sense. It's entertaining to think about. But after a while, the predictions become so implausible that he might as well have written a work of fiction. Maybe this is the start of a new genre? Non-fiction fiction?

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

ignoring some of passed history

typical conservative bubble, ignoring real history based on US needs. Where is Turkey's history of oppresion of christians and Kurds, our repression of Kurd independence, and the Armenian holocaust.

One sided view

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Does this book belong in science fiction?

This book does not back up any of the guess work with fact or logic, it is purely based on FANTASY the author calls "geo-political strategy" Examples in book:
- Japan attacks US Space 'Battle Stars' on Thanksgiving from the back side of the moon
- Japan, Turkey and Mexico are our real enemy
- US and Russia go through another cold war

Sort of hokey, but a fun listen...

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4 people found this helpful