The Next 100 Years

A Forecast for the 21st Century

By: George Friedman

Narrated by: William Hughes

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

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)

Like listening to a drunk international relations undergrad tell you his conspiracy theory

It starts out well enough. You’re thinking things like “ok that does make sense. I don’t agree with that, but I could see how someone might come to that conclusion. That didn’t happen but the logic is there, maybe he’s just off about the timing.”

Then by half way through the book your shocked by some of the wild assumptions made. By the last third I was listening just to finish the book, because the arguments behind the events felt like they had gone off the rails.

Some countries are completely dismissed after a couple short paragraphs and other countries are pushed into leading roles despite no indication of need or desire for them, also ignoring the myriad of ways that rise to power could be prevented.

I think the shortcomings in the book can be attributed to a few things. 1.) ascribing intent to actions that probably isn’t there. 2.) authors own internal biases and reasoning that weren’t in the book. 3.) that given the length of timeline assumptions made in early years vastly change the events of later.

I think the book would have been better served by taking the blinders off and allowing more possibilities. Rather than focusing in on specific events, the author would have produced a better book by present more, wide focused possibility

Fiction more than prediction

The author tries to predict the future, but time has already proven wrong some of the cornerstone assumptions made in the book. After around 2015 this book is describing an alternate reality. The author has underestimated China and Russia, overestimated Japan and Turkey and ignored the cultural and human factors.

Makes some sense

Some of his arguments make sense but most of them are far fetched. U.S’s dominance may be realized but there are more and more challenges that are shaking the giant. His understanding of China and other Asian countries need more backup. But like he said, it is hard to predict the future. The best we can do is to find patterns and deduce. I do admire his courage to write such a book because it requires a comprehensive appreciation of the world works.

a bit long and detailed

struggled a bit as it was very month and a little too detailed, but overall, pretty good.

Incredible

Probably we will have more open questions after reading this book, but that’s fantastic . The way the author take you through history and forecast his view of the potential future incredible.

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.

Awesome

This is an awesome book. I strongly recommend it. It is very entertaining and very educational. The book is fascinating.

Take it for what it is...but it is entertaining.

Any additional comments?

Take it for what it is...but it is entertaining.Overall a good story, it is a forecast of what could come after all . From a geopolitical standpoint, I think the first three quarters of the book are excellent and could very well be a glimpse in to the future based off of world history. The last section, I think he was reaching for the stars, literally.Entertaining read!

Great stuff

I love the big picture that this book paints of geopolitics. Very informative and succinctly presented. It changed my perspective of how governments are motivated.

Thought provoking.

What made the experience of listening to The Next 100 Years the most enjoyable?

The author writes his thoughts supported by events going on in the world now and in human history.

What other book might you compare The Next 100 Years to and why?

The next decade: same author. It is a little like 1984 but without a story line to follow just predictions of the future.

What about William Hughes’s performance did you like?

William Hughes performance was appropriate for the type of book. I liked him a lot.

Any additional comments?

There is a saying " History repeats itself" I always feel if this is true we should be able to predict what is going to happen in the future. Maybe not a hundred percent but even if it is 65% it is a book I want to read. This book didn't just make predictions about history repeating itself; it tried and explained why things would happen the way they would. I am excited to see what the future may hold.