- Email: [email protected]
Publication received
Book reviews/Publications received 335
In political terms it has already been overtaken by events. The book is a good example of the myth of gradualism, always favoured by moderate academics. Change in fundamentals is presumed to happen slowly, even when there is considerable turbulence on the surface. But when the fundamentals start to change, the movement can be dramatic and sudden. ]-he authors addressing the questions of political change picked up all the signs of Gorbachev's first years in power but not the dynamic of change that he set in motion but can no longer control. Unfortunately the book is of little use in helping us devise a system for managing nuclear weapons (and still
gaining benefit from their deterrent effect) in political conditions that have moved away from the easy simplicity of the US-Soviet confrontation. The system has yet to settle down. A new balance must be struck between the requirements of order and the demands of self-determination, tilting now more in the direction of the latter but still preserving the stability associated with the old system. The authors of this volume cannot be blamed for failing to anticipate the remarkable events of 1989 and the challenges that this would create, but they can be criticized for not paying enough attention to the relationship between nuclear policies and the dynamics of political change.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED Nicholas Albery and Valerie Yule (eds), Encyclopedia of Social Inventions (London, Institute for Social Inventions, 1989) 288 pages, £14.95 Guy Beneviste, Mastering the Politics of Planning (San Francisco, London, Jossey-Bass, 1989) 314 pages, £24.95 Cabinet Office, R&D Assessment: a Guide for
Alan Grainger, The Threatening Desert (London, Earthscan, 1989) 369 pages, £9.95 Graham Hancock, Lords of Poverty: the Freewheeling Lifestyles, Power, Prestige and Corruption of the Multi-Billion Dollar Aid Business (London, Macmillan, 1989) 234
pages, £7.50 Manuel Castells, The Informational City: In-
pages, £14.95 Lester W. Hilbrath, Envisioning a Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out (Albany, NY, USA, State University of New York Press, 1990)403 pages, $57.50 hb, $18.95 pb John Hudson and Marina Dymiotou-Jensen,
formation Technology, Economic Restructuring and the Urban-Regional Process (Ox-
Modelling a Developing Country: a Case Study of Cyprus (Aldershot, UK, Gower,
ford, Basil Blackwell, 1990) 402 pages, £45.00 Mary E. Clark, Ariadne's Thread: the Search for New Modes of Thinking (London, Macmillan, 1989) 584 pages, £19.50 Susan E. Clarke (ed), Urban Innovation and Autonomy (London, Sage, 1990) 288 pages, £13.95 Hemalata C. Dandekar, The Planner's Use of Information (Chicago, IL, USA, American Planning Association, 1988) 224 pages, $24.95 Howard F. Didsbury, Jr (ed), The Future: Opportunity not Destiny (Bethesda, MD, USA, World Future Society, 1989) 301 pages, $16.95 Andr~ Gorz, Critique of Economic Reason (London, Verso, 1989) 250 pages, £24.95 hb, £8.95 pb
1989) 171 pages, £34.00 Ursual Huws, Werner B. Korte and Simon Robinson, Telework: Towards the Elusive Office (Chichester, UK, John Wiley, 1989) 276 pages, £29.95 H. Patricia Hynes, The Recurring Silent Spring (Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1989) 227 pages, £15.50 hb, £7.50 pb Kenjiro Ishikawa, Japan and the Challenge of Europe 1992 (London, Pinter for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1990) 151 pages, £22.50 Saiful Islam, Culture in a Complex World:
Customers and Managers of Research and Development (London, HMSO, 1989) 72
FUTURES April 1990
Modern Technology and the Cultural Identity of Traditional Societies (Munich,
West Germany, Max Planck Gesellschaft, 1989) 50 pages Francis Kinsman, Millennium: Towards Tomorrow's Society (London, W. H. Allen,
336 Publications received/Meetings
1990) 294 pages, £12.95 Richard V. Knight and Gary Gappert (eds), Cities in a Global Society (London, Sage, 1989) 339 pages, £29.50 hb, £13.95 pb Peter Laslett, A Fresh Map of Life: the Emergence of the Third Age (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989) 213 pages, £16.95 Mark R. Levey, The VCR Age: Home Video and Mass Communication (London, Sage, 1989) 274 pages, £29.50 hb, £13.95 pb lain McLean, Democracy and New Technology (Oxford, UK, Polity Press, 1989) 204 pages, £25.00 National Council on Family Relations, 2001: Preparing Families for the Future (Minneapolis, MN, USA, National Council for Family Relations, 1990) 40 pages Antonio Negri, The Politics of Subversion: a Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century (London, Polity Press, 1989) 232 pages, £27.50 Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy, Government and Future Research: Summary of the Thirty-Fourth Report to the Government (The Hague, Scientific Council for Government Policy, 1989) 61 pages Eugene P. Odum, Ecology and Our Endangered Life Support System (Oxford, UK, W. H. Freeman, 1989) 288 pages, £10.95 OECD, Development Co-operation in the 1990s (Paris, OECD, 1989) 285 pages, £18.00 OECD, Information Technology and New Growth Opportunities (Paris, OECD, 1989) 201 pages, £12.00 Robert L. Olson and Heather Kurent, Vision 2000: Trends Shaping Architecture's Future (Washington, DC, USA, American Institute of Architects Press, 1988) 81 pages, $50.00 John Palmer, 1992 and Beyond (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1989) 95 pages, £6.95 David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner, Economics of Natural Resources and the
Environment (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990) 378 pages, £11.95 pb, £32.50 hb J. R. Ravetz, The Merger of Knowledge with Power: Essays in Critical Science (London, Mansell, 1990) 326 pages, £26.50 Christopher Ricks and Leonard Michaels (eds), The State of the Language (London, Faber and Faber, 1990) 531 pages, £17.50 James Robertson, Future Wealth: a New Economics for the 21st Century (London, Cassell, 1990) 160 pages, £16.95 hb, £6.95 pb Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, The Release of Genetically Engineered Organisms to the Environment (London, HMSO, 1989) 144 pages, £13.90 Jerry L. Salvaggio (ed), The Information Society: Economic, Social and Structural Issues (Hillsdale, NJ, USA, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989) 143 pages, £19.00 Margaret Sharp and Peter Holmes (eds), Strategies for New Technology: Case Studies from Britain and France (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Prentice Hall, 1989) 249 pages, £30.00 Maureen Steinbruner (ed), America Tomorrow: the Choices We Face (Washington, DC, USA, Center for National Policy Press, 1989) 125 pages, £13.75 Patrick Venturini, 1992: the European Social Dimension (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1989) 119 pages W. Warren Wagar, A Short History of the Future (Chicago, IL, USA, University of Chicago Press, 1989) 323 pages, £19.95 Watt Committee on Energy, Energy: Today's Decisions Tomorrow's World (London, Watt Committee on Energy, 1990) 60 pages, £25.00 Juliet Webster, Office Automation: the Labour Process and Women's Work in Britain (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Prentice Hall, 1990) 141 pages, £8.95
MEETINGS 17-20 April 1990, Vienna, Austria EMCSR 1990. 10th European meeting on cybernetics and systems research, sponsored by the Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies. Contact: Robert Trappl, Department of Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, University of Vienna, Freyung 6/2, A-101 Vienna, Austria (Tel: 43 222 53532810; Fax: 43 222 630652).
conference on the Brundtland report. The conference will include ministerial and nongovernmental representatives from the ECE region. Contact: 1990 Conference Secretariat, PO Box 8013 Dep, 0030 Oslo, Norway (Tel: 34 59 98).
8-16 May 1990, Bergen, Norway
9-12 May 1990, Oceanfront Daytona Beach, FL, USA
The government of Norway and the Economic Commission for Europe: 'Action for a common future', the ECE regional 1990 follow-up
13th regional conference of the Southern Futurist Society, on the theme: 'Leadership for tomorrow: challenges and opportunities'.
FUTU RESApril 1990
In political terms it has already been overtaken by events. The book is a good example of the myth of gradualism, always favoured by moderate academics. Change in fundamentals is presumed to happen slowly, even when there is considerable turbulence on the surface. But when the fundamentals start to change, the movement can be dramatic and sudden. ]-he authors addressing the questions of political change picked up all the signs of Gorbachev's first years in power but not the dynamic of change that he set in motion but can no longer control. Unfortunately the book is of little use in helping us devise a system for managing nuclear weapons (and still
gaining benefit from their deterrent effect) in political conditions that have moved away from the easy simplicity of the US-Soviet confrontation. The system has yet to settle down. A new balance must be struck between the requirements of order and the demands of self-determination, tilting now more in the direction of the latter but still preserving the stability associated with the old system. The authors of this volume cannot be blamed for failing to anticipate the remarkable events of 1989 and the challenges that this would create, but they can be criticized for not paying enough attention to the relationship between nuclear policies and the dynamics of political change.
PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED Nicholas Albery and Valerie Yule (eds), Encyclopedia of Social Inventions (London, Institute for Social Inventions, 1989) 288 pages, £14.95 Guy Beneviste, Mastering the Politics of Planning (San Francisco, London, Jossey-Bass, 1989) 314 pages, £24.95 Cabinet Office, R&D Assessment: a Guide for
Alan Grainger, The Threatening Desert (London, Earthscan, 1989) 369 pages, £9.95 Graham Hancock, Lords of Poverty: the Freewheeling Lifestyles, Power, Prestige and Corruption of the Multi-Billion Dollar Aid Business (London, Macmillan, 1989) 234
pages, £7.50 Manuel Castells, The Informational City: In-
pages, £14.95 Lester W. Hilbrath, Envisioning a Sustainable Society: Learning Our Way Out (Albany, NY, USA, State University of New York Press, 1990)403 pages, $57.50 hb, $18.95 pb John Hudson and Marina Dymiotou-Jensen,
formation Technology, Economic Restructuring and the Urban-Regional Process (Ox-
Modelling a Developing Country: a Case Study of Cyprus (Aldershot, UK, Gower,
ford, Basil Blackwell, 1990) 402 pages, £45.00 Mary E. Clark, Ariadne's Thread: the Search for New Modes of Thinking (London, Macmillan, 1989) 584 pages, £19.50 Susan E. Clarke (ed), Urban Innovation and Autonomy (London, Sage, 1990) 288 pages, £13.95 Hemalata C. Dandekar, The Planner's Use of Information (Chicago, IL, USA, American Planning Association, 1988) 224 pages, $24.95 Howard F. Didsbury, Jr (ed), The Future: Opportunity not Destiny (Bethesda, MD, USA, World Future Society, 1989) 301 pages, $16.95 Andr~ Gorz, Critique of Economic Reason (London, Verso, 1989) 250 pages, £24.95 hb, £8.95 pb
1989) 171 pages, £34.00 Ursual Huws, Werner B. Korte and Simon Robinson, Telework: Towards the Elusive Office (Chichester, UK, John Wiley, 1989) 276 pages, £29.95 H. Patricia Hynes, The Recurring Silent Spring (Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1989) 227 pages, £15.50 hb, £7.50 pb Kenjiro Ishikawa, Japan and the Challenge of Europe 1992 (London, Pinter for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1990) 151 pages, £22.50 Saiful Islam, Culture in a Complex World:
Customers and Managers of Research and Development (London, HMSO, 1989) 72
FUTURES April 1990
Modern Technology and the Cultural Identity of Traditional Societies (Munich,
West Germany, Max Planck Gesellschaft, 1989) 50 pages Francis Kinsman, Millennium: Towards Tomorrow's Society (London, W. H. Allen,
336 Publications received/Meetings
1990) 294 pages, £12.95 Richard V. Knight and Gary Gappert (eds), Cities in a Global Society (London, Sage, 1989) 339 pages, £29.50 hb, £13.95 pb Peter Laslett, A Fresh Map of Life: the Emergence of the Third Age (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989) 213 pages, £16.95 Mark R. Levey, The VCR Age: Home Video and Mass Communication (London, Sage, 1989) 274 pages, £29.50 hb, £13.95 pb lain McLean, Democracy and New Technology (Oxford, UK, Polity Press, 1989) 204 pages, £25.00 National Council on Family Relations, 2001: Preparing Families for the Future (Minneapolis, MN, USA, National Council for Family Relations, 1990) 40 pages Antonio Negri, The Politics of Subversion: a Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century (London, Polity Press, 1989) 232 pages, £27.50 Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy, Government and Future Research: Summary of the Thirty-Fourth Report to the Government (The Hague, Scientific Council for Government Policy, 1989) 61 pages Eugene P. Odum, Ecology and Our Endangered Life Support System (Oxford, UK, W. H. Freeman, 1989) 288 pages, £10.95 OECD, Development Co-operation in the 1990s (Paris, OECD, 1989) 285 pages, £18.00 OECD, Information Technology and New Growth Opportunities (Paris, OECD, 1989) 201 pages, £12.00 Robert L. Olson and Heather Kurent, Vision 2000: Trends Shaping Architecture's Future (Washington, DC, USA, American Institute of Architects Press, 1988) 81 pages, $50.00 John Palmer, 1992 and Beyond (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1989) 95 pages, £6.95 David W. Pearce and R. Kerry Turner, Economics of Natural Resources and the
Environment (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990) 378 pages, £11.95 pb, £32.50 hb J. R. Ravetz, The Merger of Knowledge with Power: Essays in Critical Science (London, Mansell, 1990) 326 pages, £26.50 Christopher Ricks and Leonard Michaels (eds), The State of the Language (London, Faber and Faber, 1990) 531 pages, £17.50 James Robertson, Future Wealth: a New Economics for the 21st Century (London, Cassell, 1990) 160 pages, £16.95 hb, £6.95 pb Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, The Release of Genetically Engineered Organisms to the Environment (London, HMSO, 1989) 144 pages, £13.90 Jerry L. Salvaggio (ed), The Information Society: Economic, Social and Structural Issues (Hillsdale, NJ, USA, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989) 143 pages, £19.00 Margaret Sharp and Peter Holmes (eds), Strategies for New Technology: Case Studies from Britain and France (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Prentice Hall, 1989) 249 pages, £30.00 Maureen Steinbruner (ed), America Tomorrow: the Choices We Face (Washington, DC, USA, Center for National Policy Press, 1989) 125 pages, £13.75 Patrick Venturini, 1992: the European Social Dimension (Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1989) 119 pages W. Warren Wagar, A Short History of the Future (Chicago, IL, USA, University of Chicago Press, 1989) 323 pages, £19.95 Watt Committee on Energy, Energy: Today's Decisions Tomorrow's World (London, Watt Committee on Energy, 1990) 60 pages, £25.00 Juliet Webster, Office Automation: the Labour Process and Women's Work in Britain (Hemel Hempstead, UK, Prentice Hall, 1990) 141 pages, £8.95
MEETINGS 17-20 April 1990, Vienna, Austria EMCSR 1990. 10th European meeting on cybernetics and systems research, sponsored by the Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies. Contact: Robert Trappl, Department of Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, University of Vienna, Freyung 6/2, A-101 Vienna, Austria (Tel: 43 222 53532810; Fax: 43 222 630652).
conference on the Brundtland report. The conference will include ministerial and nongovernmental representatives from the ECE region. Contact: 1990 Conference Secretariat, PO Box 8013 Dep, 0030 Oslo, Norway (Tel: 34 59 98).
8-16 May 1990, Bergen, Norway
9-12 May 1990, Oceanfront Daytona Beach, FL, USA
The government of Norway and the Economic Commission for Europe: 'Action for a common future', the ECE regional 1990 follow-up
13th regional conference of the Southern Futurist Society, on the theme: 'Leadership for tomorrow: challenges and opportunities'.
FUTU RESApril 1990