Abundance

The Future Is Better Than You Think

By: Steven Kotler, Peter H. Diamandis

Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright

The New York Times best-selling "manifesto for the future that is grounded in practical solutions addressing the world's most pressing concerns: overpopulation, food, water, energy, education, health care and freedom." (The Wall Street Journal).

Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing - and fast.

In Abundance, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years. We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every person on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp.

Breaking down human needs by category - water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom - Diamandis and Kotler introduce us to innovators and industry captains making tremendous strides in each area.

©2012 Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler (P)2021 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This engaging book is a needed corrective, a whirlwind tour of the latest developments in health care, agriculture, energy, and other fields as well as an introduction to thinkers and innovators such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, and Craig Ventor." (Publishers Weekly)

See the world with abundance

In a world we’re we see so much negative and a view that world is getting worse, this book takes the opposite viewpoint and highlights the improvements in the past and possibilities of the future.

Required Reading

This book should be required reading, beginning as soon as a child learns to read. It is well written, hope-filled and inspiring.
Never stop learning, asking questions, and working towards an abundant future for all.

First one, in a trilogy not to be missed

I started with book 3 of this Trilogy, narrated by Peter D, himself; a.biy of a mistake as the narrator for Abundance is not as engaging.
This is still an amazing book.

information

Great listen great info thank you so much write another with updates please please please thanks

It's a bit dated but still awesome!

The stories posted here and some of the discussions are visibly dated, but interesting enough, they are still relevant and still very rich.

Inspiring Information and presented very well

A must listen or read. Even 10 years after the book came out. It gives one hope for mankind!

right wing religion

I lost interest when they referred to the heritage foundation as a think tank and were citing facts from Christian science monitor.

Loved this book. Learned so much, gained hope!

I loved this book. Before stumbling upon it, I had been in a little audible book rut where o had started lots of books but none were really capturing my attention. This book grabbed me immediately. I genuinely had no idea some of the solutions presented in this book existed! This book was eye-opening, inspiring, hopeful & really thought provoking & insightful. It goes by very quickly and the narration is superb! You can see why the narrator is a SAG Actor b/c he does a liquid gold perfect read w/ perfect inflection and tone. I loved this book. Highly recommend.

Amazing read

Great boom by some of the brightest mind we have today about the reality of abundance, surprisingly fresh ideas that alter the way we think about our own and future lives

An object lesson for enthusiastic futurists

3 of 5 stars.

From the vantage point of reviewing "Abundance" in 2022, I gained a new perspective on the accuracy of wide-eyed futurists. To put it bluntly, many of the predictions that this 2012 book claimed were 5-10 years away have not only failed to materialize, but still seem 5-10 years away. The facts presented throughout "Abundance" seem compelling, even predictable. Why the poor track record? I think a big part of it is a failure of deeper understanding of certain technologies (e.g. renewable energy) as well as not accounting for logistics, supply and culture in the broader adoption curve. If anything, in this post-COVID world in the midst of conflict in Ukraine, supply chains and logistics are breaking which will have profound effects on the developing world.

This is not to suggest that this isn't an enjoyable read - many sections are likely accurate, even memorable. Chapters which discussed Raymond Kurzweil's predictive methodology (which has actually been eerily accurate) and the surprising results of incentive prizes to break through technology bottlenecks were compelling. So, while I tended to gravitate towards these optimistic tomes that breathlessly outline accelerating technology curves, I'll continue to do so but with a more cautious perspective.

The narrator gives a solid performance.