I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works: Why Your World, Work, and Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted [Kindle Edition]

Nick Bilton (Author)

Book Description

Are we driving off a digital cliff and heading for disaster, unable to focus, maintain concentration, or form the human bonds that make life worth living? Are media and business doomed and about to be replaced by amateur hour?

The world, as Nick Bilton—with tongue-in-cheek—shows, has been going to hell for a long, long time, and what we are experiencing is the twenty-first-century version of the fear that always takes hold as new technology replaces the old. In fact, as Bilton shows, the digital era we are part of is, in all its creative and disruptive forms, the foundation for exciting and engaging experiences not only for business but society as well.

Both visionary and practical, I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works captures the zeitgeist of an emerging age, providing the understanding of how a radically changed media world is influencing human behavior:

   • With a walk on the wild side—through the porn industry—we see how this business model is leading the way, adapting product to consumer needs and preferences and beating piracy.
   • By understanding how the Internet is creating a new type of consumer, the “consumnivore,” living in a world where immediacy trumps quality and quantity, we see who is dictating the type of content being created.
   • Through exploring the way our brains are adapting, we gain a new understanding of the positive effect of new media narratives on thinking and action. One fascinating study, for example, shows that surgeons who play video games are more skillful than their nonplaying counterparts.
   • Why social networks, the openness of the Internet, and handy new gadgets are not just vehicles for telling the world what you had for breakfast but are becoming the foundation for “anchoring communities” that tame information overload and help determine what news and information to trust and consume and what to ignore.
   • Why the map of tomorrow is centered on “Me,” and why that simple fact means a totally new approach to the way media companies shape content.
   • Why people pay for experiences, not content; and why great storytelling and extended relationships will prevail and enable businesses to engage with customers in new ways that go beyond merely selling information, instead creating unique and meaningful experiences.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first book, Bilton, lead technology writer for the New York Times and an avowed technophile whose professional life is defined by effectively anticipating and analyzing new tech trends, focuses on how mobile devices like iPads and smart phones have changed the corporate landscape. Content distribution, personalized marketing, and protection of profits are of paramount concern to companies, yet many are ill-equipped to address the changing attitudes of the younger generation. While Bilton deftly synthesizes content from the evolution of the porn industry to the relevance of Twitter, he has little to say to people who have actually followed or embraced these tech shifts. But people who view the iPad as a fad or hold their breath for the comeback of conventional newspapers will be educated by Bilton's straightforward analysis. He does a particularly good job of comparing the development of the Internet to past technological advances like the railroad and the printing press (though he could explore more deeply in order to better explain his reasoning). Though savvy readers will find nothing new here, the more technophobic among us will benefit.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

"A bold and provocative look at the future of storytelling. It’s about the virtues of video games, the science of cocktail parties, and the new business model of journalism.  It’s about a world in which the medium is mostly irrelevant, and the message is everything. Read this book if you want to get your message right.”
—Jonah Lehrer, author of the New York Times bestseller How We Decide


“Nick Bilton has written a rollicking, upbeat guide to the digital world—a peek into our near future, where news, storytelling, and even human identity are transformed. It’s a fascinating book from a man who has helped pilot the New York Times into a new age of online journalism. If you’re wondering—or worried—about the future of media, this is your road map.”
—Clive Thompson, Wired magazine columnist and contributing editor


“Bilton doesn’t just live in the future, he also understands the past. I Live in the Future explains how our communications tools shaped our present, how new tools are shaping our future, and what we should do to take advantage of all this opportunity.”
—Clay Shirky, author of Cognitive Surplus and Here Comes Everybody



From the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 554 KB
• Print Length: 306 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0307591123
• Publisher: Crown Business (September 14, 2010)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003B0W1SK
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,052 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars More about the present than the future November 21, 2010

By hagoleshet

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought the book because I assumed by its title that it will be a clever analysis of how the near future (next 5 years) will look like, evaluating trends and things to notice and maybe make sure that we're part of on a business level.
But the book was less about the "I live in the future and this is how it looks" and much more about the sub-title "Why Your World, Work, and Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted". The review of different current trends is nice for someone who's not involved in this fields already. So if the book wasn't called "I live in the future" it would be a good description of what it is and I'd probably wouldn't have been as disappointed.
So if you're looking for future trends this isn't the book for you (there are just a few highlights in that regard). If you're looking for some overview of the current trends then this is good enough.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Start at the end. September 30, 2010

By Todd Sattersten

Format:Hardcover

Bilton's book is the latest in a line of prognostication about how technology will impact the future. When you read, start with the manifesto-like epilogue that strangely should have started the book. I don't wonder if that change would have given the book a more impassioned start. Bilton starts to gain steam about halfway through, his chapter on suggestion and swarms being my favorite and ends with both commentary on various segments of media and reporting on some of the protoyping he did while working in the New York Times R&D lab. Technophiles will be similarly frustrated by the early going but rewarded for sticking with it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but not earth-shattering October 5, 2010

By Ninakix

Format:Kindle Edition

I did enjoy this book. It was comfortable, covering a bunch of concepts I'd been thinking about. That said, it wasn't necessarily earth-shattering for me. I felt like there was nothing absolutely new here, but rather an overview for members of the publishing industry, or elder people who weren't spending a ton of time online and maybe weren't aware of how people were getting news online these days.

More About the Author

Nick Bilton is a technology reporter and the lead writer for the Bits blog. He writes on a range of technology topics, including the future of technology and the social impact of the Web on our culture and media. He has been with The Times since 2003, both as a design editor in the newsroom and a researcher in the research and development labs.

In addition to The Times, Bilton's work has appeared in Wired, Engadget, Scientific America, ABC, CNet, O'Reilly Radar and AlleyInsider. He is also an adjunct professor at New York University in the Interactive Telecommunications Program.