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Could Should Might Don't
How We Think About the Future
Brief Description
'Rigorous, rationally optimistic and ultimately empowering' OLIVER BURKEMAN 'A deeply-considered - and funny - treatise on complacency' ALEX McDOWELL 'Essential' DAVID EAGLEMAN 'A rare and wondrous thing' STEPHEN FRY As the tempo of change accelerates beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined, the ability to think...
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Could Should Might Don't
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A stirring exploration of the ways we think about the future from pioneering creative leader Nick Foster.
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Description
'Rigorous, rationally optimistic and ultimately empowering' OLIVER BURKEMAN
'A deeply-considered - and funny - treatise on complacency' ALEX McDOWELL
'Essential' DAVID EAGLEMAN
'A rare and wondrous thing' STEPHEN FRY
As the tempo of change accelerates beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined, the ability to think clearly about what lies ahead has never been more important - yet we remain remarkably bad at it.
So how might we think about the future with greater rigour?
Nick Foster is one of very few people to have built a career considering this question, and in this book, he's written an invaluable guide for the rest of us. From the Could of excitable, science fiction utopianism and the Should of data-driven, dogmatic certainty, to the Might of scenario planning and the Don't of fear-driven risk avoidance, Foster explores how humanity has grappled with the concept of the future throughout history, tracing the emergence of distinct schools of thought and exploring the virtues, blind spots and inevitable shortcomings of each.
Could Should Might Don't resists making cocksure prophecies and bombastic predictions, instead encouraging us to create more balanced, detailed and truthful versions of the future, so that we might improve what we leave behind for those who might follow.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781837263837
Publisher: Canongate Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 11 September 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Canongate Books
Edition: Export/Airside - Export/Airside/Ireland
Illustration: B&W images throughout
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 26.0mm
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 445g
Pages: 352
About the Author
Nick Foster is a designer and writer based in Oakland, California. He has spent his career exploring the future for globally renowned technology companies including Apple, Google, Nokia, Sony and Dyson. Despite the ambitious nature of much of Nick's work, he's known for his down-to-earth, everyday and occasionally irreverent approach to the future, and in 2021 he was awarded the title 'Royal Designer for Industry' in recognition of his significant contributions to the discipline, the highest professional accolade for a British designer. Nick was born in Derby - the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and a city once synonymous with innovation, manufacturing and technology. He earned his Masters degree from the Royal College of Art, and in 2018 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
NickFosterRDI.com | @nickfoster_rdi
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