BOOK REVIEW: "Knowing Tomorrow? How Science Deals with the Future", Edited by Patrick van der Duin

Abstract

Many scientific fields deal with the future. This book provides a good introduction to the futures research and includes applications in many different scientific fields. The book starts with an introduction to the terminology and the contents of the book. The next chapter explores our interest in the future. Following chapters provide different perspectives including human and social perspective, economics perspective, philosophical perspective, historical perspective, geographical perspective, astronomical perspective and environmental perspective. It is really eye opening experience to go through all these perspectives and it lets us see that there are so many perspectives we have to worry about when we are trying to forecast technologies. Although the book does not specifically focus on technology forecasting, I find it useful for researchers in the field of technology forecasting to have a copy of this book to enrich their approaches. The two most relevant chapters are the ones focusing on management and technology analysis sections. Many of our readers would find those chapters very relevant to innovation and technology management. Overall, the book is a must have for researchers and practitioners who are either developing decision making tools to address expected problems in the future or making decisions based on how they see the future.