A Good Read: Recommended books about Futures & Foresight (2025 update)

Looking for a good book about futures and foresight to expand your knowledge, build skills, or introduce you to speculative fiction set in possible futures? Below are some of Suzanne's favourite non-fiction and fiction choices to get you started (updated 2025)

Futures & Foresight recommended reading

Non-Fiction

Foundations and Introductory Works

  • Futuring: The Exploration of the Future – Edward Cornish, 2003
    A journalistic overview of futures studies by the founder of the World Future Society, updating his classic Study of the Future.
  • Introduction to Foresight (Foresight Guide Book 1) – John Smart, 2021
    A comprehensive, reference-style guide packed with insights into the contemporary practice of foresight.
  • Foundations of Futures Studies: Human Science for a New Era (Vol. 1) – Wendell Bell, 1996
    A scholarly and systematic introduction to the foundations and purposes of futures studies.
  • Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight – Andy Hines & Peter Bishop, 2015
    A practical handbook that lays out core concepts and steps for engaging in strategic foresight work.
  • Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything – Jane McGonigal, 2022
    A highly accessible and hopeful guide to building resilience through imagination and scenario thinking.
  • Future Shock – Alvin Toffler, 1970 (Also cited as 1984 in some editions)
    A powerful analysis of the overwhelming pace of change and its psychological effects on society.
  • The Art of Conjecture – Bertrand de Jouvenel, 1967
    A philosophical exploration of how envisioning possible futures can guide present decisions.
  • The Image of the Future – Fred Polak, 1973
    A foundational study on how societies’ images of the future shape their evolution and success.

Technology and Artificial Intelligence

  • The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology – Ray Kurzweil, 2005
    Predicts a technological "singularity" where AI, genetics, and nanotech reshape human life.
  • Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies – Nick Bostrom, 2014
    A rigorous exploration of how superhuman AI could emerge and what risks it may pose.
  • Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence – Max Tegmark, 2017
    Discusses scenarios where AI development profoundly transforms humanity.
  • The Second Machine Age – Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee, 2014
    Explores how digital technologies are driving profound changes in the economy and society.
  • AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future – Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan, 2021
    Combines fiction and analysis to present ten plausible futures shaped by AI.
  • The Culture Series – Iain M. Banks, 1987–2012
    A speculative series about a post-scarcity society run by benevolent AI, rich in ethical and political insight.

Society, Ethics, and Economics

  • Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow – Yuval Noah Harari, 2016
    Considers the future of humanity in light of biotech, AI, and the quest for godlike powers.
  • What We Owe The Future – William MacAskill, 2022
    Makes the case for "longtermism"—prioritizing actions that benefit distant future generations.
  • Future Ethics – Cennydd Bowles, 2018
    Examines the ethical dilemmas emerging from rapidly evolving technologies.
  • Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech – Jamie Susskind, 2018
    Investigates how digital technologies will reshape political power, freedom, and justice.
  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism – Shoshana Zuboff, 2019
    Reveals how big tech exploits data for profit and what that means for democracy and autonomy.
  • Capital in the Twenty-First Century – Thomas Piketty, 2014
    Argues that unchecked capitalism naturally leads to growing inequality unless restructured.
  • 2025: Imagining After Capitalism – Andy Hines, 2025
    Synthesizes three alternative post-capitalist scenarios using foresight methodology.

Methods and Applications

  • The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World – Peter Schwartz, 1996
    A business-oriented classic on scenario planning and its strategic use.
  • Questioning the Future: Methods and Tools for Organizational and Societal Transformation – Sohail Inayatullah, 2005
    A combination of foresight theory and practical methods for driving transformation.
  • How to Future: Leading and Sense-Making in an Age of Hyperchange – Scott Smith & Madeline Ashby, 2020
    A toolkit for applying foresight in rapidly changing, real-world contexts.
  • Facing Our Futures: How Foresight, Futures Design and Strategy Creates Prosperity and Growth – Nikolas Badminton, 2023
    An energizing guide to foresight practices for innovation and leadership in organizations.
  • The Signals Are Talking: Why Today’s Fringe is Tomorrow’s Mainstream – Amy Webb, 2016
    Offers techniques for spotting early signals of change and anticipating emerging trends.
  • Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change – Don Beck & Christopher Cowan, 1996
    Explores evolving human value systems as a guide to understanding individual and societal development.

Environment and Sustainability

  • The Limits to Growth – Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, 1972
    A pioneering study warning that exponential growth will outstrip Earth's capacity.
  • The Uninhabitable Earth – David Wallace-Wells, 2019
    A harrowing look at the near-term consequences of unchecked climate change.
  • The Future We Choose – Christiana Figueres & Tom Rivett-Carnac, 2020
    A passionate call to climate action by two of the Paris Agreement’s architects.
  • Drawdown – Edited by Paul Hawken, 2017
    A solutions-based book offering 100 ways to reduce emissions and reverse global warming.
  • Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity – Sandrine Dixson-Declève et al., 2022
    Presents scenario-based policies to build a fairer and more sustainable future by 2050.

Compilations

  • The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies 2020 – Edited by Richard Slaughter & Andy Hines, 2020
    A curated anthology showcasing essential writings and tools from across the futures field.

Fiction

Classics & Dystopias

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell, 1949
    A chilling portrayal of totalitarianism, surveillance, and the loss of truth.
  • Brave New World – Aldous Huxley, 1932
    A vision of a controlled, pleasure-driven society built on genetic engineering and conformity.
  • Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury, 1953
    In a future where books are outlawed, firemen burn them to suppress dissent and critical thought.
  • The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood, 1985
    A dystopian regime strips women of rights and autonomy in a near-future theocracy.

Tech & Post-Capitalism

  • Neuromancer – William Gibson, 1984
    A noir cyberpunk thriller that coined “cyberspace” and envisioned the digital matrix decades ahead of its time.
  • Red Mars – Kim Stanley Robinson, 1993
    Explores the political, ecological, and human dimensions of colonizing Mars.
  • Walkaway – Cory Doctorow, 2017
    A provocative tale of people who abandon capitalism to build a post-scarcity society in the ruins.

Science, Society & Space

  • Foundation – Isaac Asimov, 1951
    Chronicles a mathematician’s plan to shorten a dark age through predictive science and a knowledge-preserving Foundation.
  • Dune – Frank Herbert, 1965
    A sprawling space epic that interweaves politics, religion, and ecology on the desert planet Arrakis.
  • The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin, 1974
    A physicist’s journey between two worlds explores anarchism, capitalism, and utopian ideals.
  • Parable of the Sower – Octavia E. Butler, 1993
    A young visionary founds a new belief system amid the collapse of American society due to climate and economic crisis.
  • The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson, 2020
    Follows an international organization tasked with climate intervention in a brutally realistic near-future Earth.

Curious? Want to know more?

Interested in learning more about participatory futures workshops, future scenarios, horizon scanning, and other foresight methods to help you ensure a thriving future in the face of uncertainty? Get in touch - we'd love to help.