2045: A Story of Our Future [Paperback]

Peter Seidel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 2009

Global warming, environmental degradation, the rapid pace of technological innovation, and the economic stresses of globalization give rise to much speculation about the future. How will these dynamic factors affect society in the coming decades? In this dystopian novel, environmental expert Peter Seidel has created a stark and haunting vision of a world on the near horizon.

Carl is a small-town midwestern businessman who is accidentally put into a coma when he receives an inadequately tested vaccine. When he finally regains consciousness, he discovers that it is the year 2045 and his unusual medical story and recovery have turned him into an international celebrity. As he visits family and friends, he finds out that almost everything has gone wrong and the family business he ran thirty-five years ago has disappeared. Carl s fame lands him a job on a seemingly idyllic tropical island with one of the eight giant international corporations that own almost everything. His job is to help promote a soft drink. He is overwhelmed by the unbounded luxury he finds on the island. But he learns that the ethical standards in this strange place are only a front. During a business trip, he discovers something that horrifies him and turns him in a new direction, one beset with life-threatening dangers.

Seidel skillfully projects a wide range of current trends into a believable and disturbing near-term future scenario.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Corporate unethical and illegal behavior is common today but partially kept in check by government intervention. In 2045 the world is controlled by eight giant corporations through mergers and acquisitions. They control nearly all countries, democratic or autocratic. The environment, consumers and workers are now utterly at the mercy of the corporations. Seidel vividly describes the resulting situation in a gripping novel.--Marshall B. Clinard, Emeritus Professor, Sociology, University of Wisconsin - Madison.


Peter Seidel's novel gives us a sense of what life will be like in the future if we stay with our business-as-usual policies. It is an insightful, revealing read. --Lester R. Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute and author of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

“2045 is the most important book I have ever read, for two reasons. Seidel has an astonishing ability to make an exhaustive survey of the modern world and identify all those forces that work in the system which will have a huge effect when projected ahead three or more decades. Second, he has an extraordinary ability to forecast how different kinds of forces will interact with each other. Like Tolstoy’s War and Peace, 2045 paints a very ‘big picture.’ This is a highly engaging and entertaining novel. However, you gradually come to notice that up to three new ideas or facts are being revealed to you every page you read.” Kenneth E. F. Watt Author of The Titanic Effect and Understanding the Environment

“2045 offers a bold, imaginative exploration of what our world will look like thirty-five years in the future if current trends, including the depletion of natural resources, continue for a while unchecked. . . . . A brilliant opportunity for all of us to envision the possible outcomes of our current levels of resource use, and to effect positive change before it is too late.” Mathis Wachernagel Executive director of Global Footprint Network and cocreator of the term “Ecological Footprint”

“. . . a timely reminder that today’s ongoing population growth and environmental degradation carry a high risk, the real possibility of a global descent into human hell. It’s not a pretty picture, but it makes for a provocative novel with a clear message: Don’t go there.” Robert Engelman Author of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want

“There is a lot to learn from comparing “1984” and “2045”. In both visions, surveillance, ‎censorship, and propaganda to promote the aims of the regime are assisted by screens in ‎every home. Orwell did not foresee the internet, or anything comparable with netizen ‎power. But in Seidel’s 2045, the internet has been tamed to prevent it becoming a tool ‎of protest against the eight dominant mega-companies.‎ The most significant difference is that Orwell’s vision was of political totalitarianism. In ‎2045, the authoritarian elite is commercial.” Chris Williams, The Korea Herald

About the Author

Peter Seidel (Cincinnati, Ohio) is an environmental architect/planner with wide-ranging interests who studied with world-renowned Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe and city planner Ludwig Hilberseimer. He is the author of Invisible Walls.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (March 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591027055
• ISBN-13: 978-1591027058
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dystiopia Awaits, April 27, 2009

By 

David Simcox (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 2045: A Story of Our Future (Paperback)

An environmental architect and planner and longtime population activist, Peter Seidel has written a troubling work of speculative fiction about environmental and social conditions in the U.S. and the world approaching mid-century. The book is a great yarn, but much more than that. Like much science fiction, it is a diagnosis and a warning, in this case a warning of the environmental and social ugliness mankind can expect in a mere three to four decades if we persist in our destructive pursuit of unending growth -- of population, consumption and concentration of political and economic power. Seidel's novel is a reminder that "business as usual" can lead to tragic, planet-altering consequences. If you savored such futuristic works as "Blade Runner" and Huxley's "Brave New World," you'll be right at home with Seidel's dark vision of a time not far off.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sleepwalkers Awake!!, July 30, 2009

By 

Dorothy Glanzer (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 2045: A Story of Our Future (Paperback)

Is Peter Seidel's new book, "2045," plausible? The thoughtful, observent, and informed person must unfortunately answer, 'Yes.' The signs are around us: the concentration of the media in fewer and fewer corporations, out of control population growth, the rise of religious extremism, symptoms of global warming, etc. These critical challenges are the milieu of Mr. Seidel's parable. Deteriorating cities and neighborhoods with widespread unemployment are served with appealing futuristic transportation systems. But it is a world where the commonwealth has become concentrated into the hands of a few sinister corporations. The plot is engaging, the characters believable. There is intrigue, murder, romance, villains, heroes and a resistance movement. "2045" is not a spoof or a farce, but a picture of the road up ahead that we are currently traveling on. If ever there was a time for real, passionate, perceptive and courageous heroes, it is now. Read this book and then do something to stop the global train wreck.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Leftist's Nightmare Future, October 7, 2009

By 

Christy B (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: 2045: A Story of Our Future (Paperback)

I've seen a lot of the reviews for this work comparing the vision it shares with the greatest of all dystopian novels, 1984. Just for the record, I have to disagree that it shares anything other than a dystopian theme with that novel. Instead, we see a sort of opposing view, but one that is just as important.

The story itself revolves around the awakening of our protagonist, Carl, after a 35 year coma from an insufficiently tested vaccine. This particular beginning is pretty important to the story because it illustrates the theme that mega corporations, and just plain corporate entities of all sizes, were getting away with "murder" even in our age. As Carl, a celebrity because of his long nap, moves his way through a world so entirely different, yet chillingly the same, we are introduced with him to the seductive nature and ultimately evil world of a corporate controlled future.

Others have detailed some of the spoilers and I wouldn't want to take away the surprises, but some general themes and concepts are that super corporations control the reality of the world via advertising, privatization of formerly government activities and outright purchasing power. People live in overcrowded conditions of nearly universal poverty yet spent their few funds on whatever is pushed on them by the overwhelming advertising they are compelled to receive 24 hours a day.

It is truly a dystopia. There is no question there. But what kind of dystopia?

Most of the recent popular dystopian books and movies such as Equilibrium (movie), V for Vendetta (movie), Unwind (novel) and Uglies (series) tend to focus on a government controlled world where there isn't a particular financial motive, but rather one of control or power. Ones like Unwind and V for Vendetta have nasty overtones of the fanatically religious far right while others like Uglies deal with simple control. 2045 is different in that it will feel more familiar to a lefter leaning crowd. The fear of runaway environmental impacts combined with unlimited corporate power and greed, as well as a certain hint of male dominated "old boys club" really resonates with the Democratic movement today and their own brand of doom-saying.

If I had to classify this, I would say it is more of an Anti-Orwellian piece or even an Anti-Huxley piece since the dystopian development actually followed the opposing path.

I rather liked the book in some ways. As a constitutionalist, I don't subscribe to the fearful doomsaying of either party but understand the potential for both. In that way, it didn't personally resonate. But the creativity and fullness of his dystopia did. It is certainly a work of passion.

This is supposed to be a work for young adults and teens, however I'd be hesistant to offer it to one without reading it as a parent first. There are some themes that are a bit grown up and an unformed political mind could very easily be warped by this. I offer the same warning as I did with Unwind, though it is precisely the opposite in sentiment, for that reason. There is little attempt at veiling the desire for a purely Blue agenda here in terms of redistribution of wealth, overtaxation of achievers, more social programs and the elimination of private corporations. This will be an irritation to those with center to right leaning ideals.

In terms of the environmental collapse described, there are some flaws but this is an area where most people, myself included, need to be more in touch with. Most of it he included very well within the context of Carl's travels and activities. It is something we should all look at today rather than 2045. Sometimes it is a little too clear that he is an activist and the rhetoric gets a bit thick.

I liked the book alright, but I wasn't overwhelmed by it. It needed to have some of the rough edges smoothed over and a less hammerish way of sending the message.