Visions for the 21st Century

Publisher Marketing: This is a challenging and stimulating collection of twenty-one essays by international contributors. Their topics are as varied as the cultures and disciplines they themselves represent. We are invited to go beyond present complexities and take a far future perspective. Business, so often cast as the villain, is given a transforming role of rescuing us from the mess we are in. We are shown practical and achievable steps to bring peace and cooperation to the Middle East and an end to war. Conventional scientific methods are also tested and found wanting. These essays resonate with the interconnectedness and interdependence of the issues that face us: they also demonstrate that the solutions we seek are achievable but must also reflect that same interconnectedness. They show that to become mesmerized by the problems we face is to lose sight of the possibilities. These visions are a refreshing antidote to a growing tide of pessimism about the future.

Contributor Bio:  Unknown As a pediatrician, writer, wife, and mother, Perri Klass has demonstrated how medicine is integral to the health of families and communities, and how doctors themselves struggle to balance the conflicting needs of profession, self, and family. As medical director of Reach Out and Read, she encourages other pediatricians to foster pre-reading skills in their young patients. While earning her M. D. at Harvard, Klass contributed articles to "Mademoiselle" and "The New York Times" as well as to scientific and medical journals. She also wrote her first book, "A Not Entirely Benign Procedure "(1987), which chronicles her introduction to medicine and motherhood. In the following years she has continued to publish books, essays, award-winning short stories, a novel, and numerous articles, ranging from professional papers to popular journalism and travel pieces. Contributor Bio:  Moorcroft, Sheila M SHEILA M. MOORCROFT is a freelance futures consultant who has been active in the field of futures research for over a decade focusing on scanning techniques, issues identification and assessment, and the implications of social change and alternative scenario development.