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  • The Inevitable

  • Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future
  • Written by: Kevin Kelly
  • Narrated by: George Newbern
  • Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (62 ratings)

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The Inevitable cover art

The Inevitable

Written by: Kevin Kelly
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Publisher's Summary

A New York Times Best Seller

From one of our leading technology thinkers and writers, a guide through the 12 technological imperatives that will shape the next 30 years and transform our lives.

Much of what will happen in the next 30 years is inevitable, driven by technological trends that are already in motion. In this fascinating, provocative new book, Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic road map for the future, showing how the coming changes in our lives - from virtual reality in the home to an on-demand economy to artificial intelligence embedded in everything we manufacture - can be understood as the result of a few long-term, accelerating forces. Kelly both describes these deep trends - interacting, cognifying, flowing, screening, accessing, sharing, filtering, remixing, tracking, and questioning - and demonstrates how they overlap and are codependent on one another.

These larger forces will completely revolutionize the way we buy, work, learn, and communicate with each other. By understanding and embracing them, says Kelly, it will be easier for us to remain on top of the coming wave of changes and to arrange our day-to-day relationships with technology in ways that bring forth maximum benefits. Kelly’s bright, hopeful book will be indispensable to anyone who seeks guidance on where their business, industry, or life is heading - what to invent, where to work, in what to invest, how to better reach customers, and what to begin to put into place - as this new world emerges. 

©2016 Kevin Kelly (P)2016 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Inevitable

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Long-winded and slow-paced

While the reading reflects the tone and pace of the book, the book itself is show-paced, repetitive and long-winded.

Conceptually, the ideas about technological innovation and the inevitability of certain types of progress are interesting, but both the anecdotes and forward-looking stories used to illustrate the concepts being discussed often seem unnecessarily long and there are simply too many of them. They do little to add to the reader's (or listener's) understanding.

The paper version, which I also own (I bought the audio version so I could stop reading the paper version because I kept falling asleep), could have been a third of the volume; the audio version a third of the length.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Not engaging

The broad ideas presented are interesting. However, the way the book s written is not naturally engaging. I Usually finish an audio book in a span of a week, I put aside this book many times and had to force myself to come back to it.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A possible guide to submission to the Holos(sp)

Blew all my bits to bits! Essential reading for 21st century humans. Read and report back.

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