The Signals Are Talking

Why Today's Fringe Is Tomorrow's Mainstream

By: Amy Webb

Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan

An expert in trend forecasting shows how to anticipate what’s next and prepare your business, your market, and your products for the future

“Amy Webb, with insight and a big dose of pragmatism, shows how to clearly see the next big disruption and then take action before it strikes.” ―Ram Charan, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Execution

A Fast Company Best Book of the Year

How do you tell a real trend from the merely trendy? How, for example, will a technology—like artificial intelligence, machine learning, self-driving cars, biohacking, bots, and the Internet of Things—affect us, our businesses, and workplaces? How will it eventually change the way we live, work, play, and think—and how should we prepare for it now?

In The Signals Are Talking, noted futurist Amy Webb shows us how to analyze the “true signals”—those patterns that will coalesce into a trend with the potential to change everything—and land on the right side of disruption. The future, Webb shows, isn’t something that happens to us passively. Using a proven, tested methodology, she enables us to see ahead and forecast what’s to come—challenging us to create our own preferred futures.

Critic reviews

"Webb teaches us to listen...[she] combines well-researched, reader-friendly insights on Google, drones and artificial intelligence with a system of questions you can bring to your next strategy meeting..."—Chicago Tribune

"Will undoubtedly help leaders contemplate what lies ahead. Webb provides a logical way to sift through today's onslaught of events and information to spot coming changes in your corner of the world."—Kirkus Reviews

"[The Signals Are Talking] provides several brain-bending future possibilities...Webb's stellar reputation in this red-hot field should generate demand."—Booklist

"At this moment, it seems obvious that we could all stand to brush up on our skills as prognosticators. And not just so we can avoid being blindsided by seismic elections, but because technology promises to continue its disruptive march through our societies and economies. What will cabbies do when cars are self-driving, and what will warehouse workers do when robots can pick, pack, and ship without lunch breaks and health care benefits? Forget NAFTA; the shift is toward Silicon Valley. But where to start? The Signals Are Talking: Why Today's Fringe Is Tomorrow's Mainstream is a good place. Sitting somewhere between Nate Silver and The Tipping Point, Amy Webb's book provides a practical guide for leaders - at any level - in the age of Big Data, offering tools for picking out the 'true signal, a pattern that will coalesce into a trend with the potential to change everything' - and land on the right side of disruption."—Jon Foro, The Amazon Book Review (An Amazon Best Book of December 2016)

"The clear, insightful, and humorous Amy Webb has crafted a rare treasure: a substantive guide written in a narrative that's a delight to read. While most futurologists want guru status through a few Nostradamus-like visions that never materialize, Webb modestly reports with depth and discipline, and creates a system and tools we can all use to better navigate the future. Through her deep research, specific anecdotes and brilliant insights, she has performed the selfless but hugely valuable act of teaching us all to fish at the fringe."—Christopher J. Graves, Global Chair, Ogilvy Public Relations

"Amy Webb, with insight and a big dose of pragmatism, shows how to clearly see the next big disruption and then take action before it strikes"—Ram Charan, advisor to CEOs and corporate boards, author of The Attackers Advantage and co-author of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

"Forecasting the future is a challenging-and absolutely necessary-part of every leader's job. In this ambitious and timely book Amy Webb shows not only how to identify actual trends and surprises emerging from the fringes but-even more important-how to do something about them so you can thrive in the face of the unexpected."—Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist

Affirming and Enlightening

Love it! The information Amy Webb provided was such that I listened to the audio book for 4 hours straight. The narrator was fantastic! Her voice never fatigued me as a listener as have other narrators.

Good book, awful narrator

The content in this book could be interesting but it is hard to know for sure because the narration is so terrible. The narrator reads every sentence as though it is its own contained story - she has no comprehension of the greater point being made and seemingly little understanding of the subject matter. She emphasizes all the wrong parts of sentences word-by-word to the point where the meaning is confused and often altogether lost. Extremely frustrating. I will be returning this book.
Regarding content, there is interesting analysis of how fringe developments unexpectedly led to massive mainstream shifts. Things are a little weaker when she attempts to make predictions using current fringe developments but overall the content seems interesting when it can be comprehended from the scattershot narration.

Best book I have read in a very long time

Completely opened up my eyes and made me be more aware of what is going on around me

Forecast the Future using signals and much more!

A detailed and comprehensive book and resource to look at the future from a Futurist point of view; with 6 steps that let you look and analyze the signals, ask the right questions and forecast the future using scenario planning and more; The book includes also analysis on some of the greatest trends and projects/companies from Google to UBER and how they played a role in shaping our future and more.

Amy Webb is well known for her exceptional way of scouting and making sense of the trends and presenting how this would / may affect our lives and work today and the future.

The Signals Are Talking is a book that a futurist, marketer, technologist, entrepreneur, or simply a curious psychologist needs to read.

Horrible performance makes this hard to follow.

I'm struggling to get past the first few chapters due to the narrator and her complete lack of understanding of how the sentences belong together.