Why read The Invention of Tomorrow?

Book cover of The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight

Book description

Our ability to think about the future is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. In The Invention of Tomorrow, cognitive scientists Thomas Suddendorf, Jonathan Redshaw, and Adam Bulley argue that its emergence transformed humans from unremarkable primates to creatures that hold the destiny of the planet in…

Explore

Topics

Genres

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Invention of Tomorrow as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Richard Fisher

Author

I first met Suddendorf – one of the three co-authors of this book – in Australia back in 2016.

He is a German professor living in Queensland (with an accent untroubled by antipodean influence), and is best known for studying the skill of “mental time travel”. From him I learnt that this is one of the foundational abilities of humanity, which may well have steered our entire evolution.

We can project our minds across the past, present, and future at will - unlike pretty much any other animal. Therefore it’s crucial as a skill if we want to take…

From Richard's list on The best books to take a longer view of time.