Customer Reviews

A Dance Through the Fires of Time: A Semi-Fictional Autobiography of the 20th Century and a Primer for the 21st

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I cannot better the review by the New York Times best-selling author Ellen Tanner Marsh. She says "A Dance Through The Fires of Time is more than one man's reminiscences; it is also an avant-garde step into publishing that combines a written auobiography with a collection of website links. Mercer's writing pulls us into his life, allowing us to experience the exciting and sometimes alarming transformations that have taken place globally across six decades and into a new century. As if perched on his shoulder, we experience his traditional middle-class childhood in post-war Britain, then his innovations in the vibrant world of marketing and later his foray into the uncharted territory of personal computers and technology, surely a far-seeing vision few of us were wise enough to share.

Among the author's greatest achievements, however, is his work on behalf of the British Foreign Office, helping the Ethiopian government make its successful move from communism to social democracy and his visionary contributions as the Director of the Open University Futures Observatory, where Mercer's talents and experience supported the long range planning of governments around the world.

A Dance Through The Fires of Time reminds us that life continues to move forward and that history inexorably advances. In this beautifully written book, we are also reminded that technology, like life, can quickly shift from daunting to exhilarating. It takes someone as innovative as David Mercer to remind us how quickly this can happen.