Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think
As the book title suggests, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think is full of optimism about the future. I absolutely loved the read, not simply because I am an optimist but since optimism is about the power of entrepreneurship that will make the future brighter. Being a tech startup founder, I felt it an emotional treat to see so many stories of entrepreneurs who are changing the world.
I came to know about it from the article that had Bill Gates recommend the book. Thanks, Bill!
The book is authored by Peter Diamandis and journalist Steven Kotler and is narrated in Peter’s voice. Coming from a bright academic background (MIT and Harvard Medical School), Peter has founded a number of organizations including X Prize Foundation and Singularity University and, I believe, has the authority to make the argument.
The author discusses the biggest challenge that the humanity is facing today -how the whole world population (9 billion people by 2050) can reach the American living standard with no environmental impact. Challenging as it seems, the author makes an argument of creating an abundance of everything that is needed, with innovation powered by entrepreneurship. The author uses quite a few examples from the past and present to demonstrate that we have been doing it already and its positive impact on the world economy.
Peter proposes an abundance pyramid and how we can work from the bottom up to create abundance. He talks about each of these elements in separate chapters to continue developing his argument of creating abundance to make the future better for everyone.
The 239-page book has a plenty of supporting facts and sources that are listed on additional 70 pages. You can purchase the 2012 New York Times’ bestseller for $15.
Who is this book for?
I’d recommend this to everyone but Innovators, Social Entrepreneurs and Activists would definitely love it.
Here are my two favourite pieces from the book:
The book is full of amazing facts, the stories of entrepreneurs and inventions that have changed the world, but here is a quick glimpse of it:
1) Chapter 1 — Our Grandest Challenge, page 6:
“When seen through the lenses of technology, few resources are truly scarce; they’re mainly inaccessible. Yet the threat of scarcity still dominates our worldview.”
2) Chapter 9 — Feeding Nine Billion, page 110:
“Cattle, for starters, are energy hogs, with the standard ratio of energy input to beef output being 54:1. They’re also a lang hog, with livestock production accounting for 70% of all agricultural lands and covering 30% of all land surface on the planet. Ranching produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars in the world, and is the leading cause of soil erosion and deforestation.”
PS: Please stop eating beef, people! You’re killing everyone.