• The Next Decade

  • Where We've Been . . . and Where We're Going
  • By: George Friedman
  • Narrated by: Bruce Turk
  • Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (490 ratings)

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The Next Decade  By  cover art

The Next Decade

By: George Friedman
Narrated by: Bruce Turk
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Publisher's summary

The author of the acclaimed New York Times best seller The Next 100 Years now focuses his geopolitical forecasting acumen on the next decade and the imminent events and challenges that will test America and the world, specifically addressing the skills that will be required by the decade’s leaders.

The next 10 years will be a time of massive transition. The wars in the Islamic world will be subsiding, and terrorism will become something we learn to live with. China will be encountering its crisis. We will be moving from a time when financial crises dominate the world to a time when labor shortages will begin to dominate. The new century will be taking shape in the next decade.

In The Next Decade, George Friedman offers listeners a pro­vocative and endlessly fascinating prognosis for the immedi­ate future. Using Machiavelli’s The Prince as a model, Friedman focuses on the world’s leaders - particularly the American president - and with his trusted geopolitical insight analyzes the complex chess game they will all have to play. The audiobook also asks how to be a good president in a decade of extraordinary challenge, and puts the world’s leaders under a microscope to explain how they will arrive at the decisions they will make - and the consequences these actions will have for us all.

©2011 George Friedman (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“There is a temptation, when you are around George Friedman, to treat him like a Magic 8-Ball.″ ( New York Times Magazine)

What listeners say about The Next Decade

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Very thorough yet understandable

Much like "America's Secret War", the title does no justice to the content. This book is captivating in the author's strongly founded opinions on the direction of global affairs and how in fact the presidency matters only in so much in how the president responds to current issues (and the impact they will have on the next decade.) Very good read.

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    4 out of 5 stars

insightful information

I had finished half of the book ,so far I liked it pretty much.

Lots of interesting information about geopolitics. The author spends more pages writting about what had happened in the last fifty years than predicting what would happen in the next decade.That's not what I had expected,but still ok, interesting content.

If you are someone who aleady knew a lot on geopolitics, you won't find too much news in this book.But if you are not, I highly recommend this book, after 9 hours listening, you will have a more clear,deeper view on geopolitics.

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The decade is over, hindsight is 20-20, amazingly

Read in 2023, amazingly well thought out view of what was to come and how to deal with 2010 - 2020. His warnings were extremely prescient and not always heeded. Today's reality well
explained. Perhaps someone is finally listening?

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Exquisite !

I hope our future leaders read this book .
Step by step formula for remaining the sole super power .

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Phenomenal book. Ingenious author. Must read!

This book is fantastic and you must read it. One of the best geopolitical books I’ve read.

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US as an empire

Educational read on how the US approaches its Foreign Policy. I very much enjoyed the breakdown of key relationships.

Friedman seems quite tied to the idea of the US as an empire, which many will disagree with.

One downside of the book for me is that, the book drags a little with quite a bit of repetition.

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Friedman provides a great basis for thinking

Agree with it or not, America is an empire. We must know our role and how to establish the right balance of power. Steeped with Machiavellian references, this book shows trends that are actually playing out (since we're 6 years into The Next Decade ). This is a good place to start your thinking of geopolitics.

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Outstanding Again

Compliments to presenter. Calm and steady pace allows handling this challenging material.

For the author, what can I say? Pile on more praise I suppose. I greatly appreciate the ten year focus.

My only concern is that you have failed to call out Mr. Obama's unbelievable incompetence. I am sure his last term was on your mind and I wish you had nailed him right to the wall of history.

How do we recover now? Do a post Obamination book and give us some hope.

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Vital knowledge to all US Citizens

I have read and listened to a lot of Friedman's writings, lectures and interviews. The forecasts and principles in this book are explained clearly and simply enough for anyone of average capacity to understand.

This book is of particular importance to VOTERS TRYING TO CHOOSE CANDIDATES as it presents what we the people should identify in a candidate even when they are lying.

I strongly believe that if a higher percentage of the public would comprehend these principles, all nations would be better prepared to help politicians do the important work and it would greatly balance the current confusion in media that has brought us to this point.

I'm giving this book to my 2 daughters as required reading. So should you.

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Everyone should read this!

This book is highly relevant to the challenges we face today! I highly recommend it!

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