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richardiporter's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
tense
5.0
Read this book! a sweeping set of predictions about the strategic future of the globe based in demography, geography, history, economics and politics. Often counter-intuitive and striking, made all he more so by revisiting 10 years on and evaluating areas hit, miss and not-yet predictions. Some key bullet sand things this changed my mind on to varying degrees
-the US will have it the least bad of all the nations
-China will have it the worst
-Europe wont be much better off
-Canada is likely to be torn apart
-Russia is more dangerous than I thought - its mostly the nukes.
-the drug war in the US is likely the biggest strategic threat to worry about, other than nuclear war
All this and more can be yours for the reading or listening as readby the author.
5 Stars, Loved the book, recommend it to anyone, will read again, changed my mind about something important
mj470's review against another edition
4.0
This book is staggering in its scope, but the broad global context is one of my favorite features of Zeihan's writing. He is a true politically moderate voice which I do not always agree with but find most informative when looking at geopolitics.
This is like reading two books in one. I really like the 10 years later reflections on his original predictions. I really hope he writes another in 20 years.
This is like reading two books in one. I really like the 10 years later reflections on his original predictions. I really hope he writes another in 20 years.
bam_bam_bam's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of compelling arguments, but very little data shown (other than demographic pyramids).
rschmidt7's review against another edition
4.0
A compelling geopolitical argument for why America will remain-without question-the global world power for the foreseeable future! However, I couldn't give the book 5 stars, because certain predictions seem dubious or rely on too long a string of "ifs". Still, most of the book rings true, and this is well worth a read for anyone who believes America's best days are behind her!
leevoncarbon's review against another edition
4.0
The author is not at all hesitant to make bold prognostications about the disorder that may engulf the world in the next 15 years. There are enough of them to ensure that at least a few will make him look like a genius. At the same time, his detailed grasp of world geography is impressive and the connections he makes between geography and the way nations evolve are compelling. It is an information packed book but his writing style keeps you engaged.
enigmadame's review against another edition
3.0
This was a book packed with information, but surprisingly (to me only, maybe) easy to read. I had trouble with all the maps due to the slight differences in colors, but I don't feel I really missed out on much. I think the book is entertainingly summed up in one of the last sentences:
"Simply put, the world is indeed going to hell, but the Americans are going to sit this one out."
"Simply put, the world is indeed going to hell, but the Americans are going to sit this one out."
kutterek's review against another edition
3.0
Solid read, but I wish I would have read this before I read The End of the World is Just the Beginning. The latter book went into a lot of the same history but then covered a lot more of our present and future because of being published more recently.
trails's review against another edition
3.0
The first half of this book is a very interesting and entertaining read, examining American history through the lense of of geopolitics. The second half is a pitch for the oil industry and American isolationism that has not aged well even when removing personal objection to such thinking. The writing is engaging, but the content made me roll my eyes enough to enduce eye strain when the book shifted from analysis to prediction.