The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World

'This is the book our children's children will thank us for reading' – The Edge, U2 The greatest challenge facing humankind is not climate change, or extreme inequality, or terrorism; it is our inability to think long term. ‘The most important question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we being good ancestors?”’ So said Jonas Salk, who cured polio in 1955, saving millions of lives, but refused to patent his discovery or make any money out of it. His radical rethinking of what we owe to future generations should be an inspiration to us all, but it has hardly taken root. That’s because we’re living in the age of now. Businesses can barely see beyond the next quarterly report, nor politicians beyond the next election. Markets spike then crash in speculative bubbles. In this right-here, right-now society, we rarely stop to consider if we’re being good ancestors. But the future depends on it. Here, leading public intellectual, philosopher, and bestselling author Roman Krznaric explains how we lost sight of the future, and introduces the six simple, practical ways that we can change our thinking today to give our children, and our planet, a chance at a better tomorrow.

About the Author :
Roman Krznaric is a social philosopher whose books, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and How to Find Fulfilling Work, have been published in more than twenty languages. He is the founder of the world's first Empathy Museum and of the digital Empathy Library. He is also a founding faculty member of The School of Life and on the faculty of Year Here. Roman has been named by the Observer as one of Britain's leading popular philosophers. His writings have been widely influential amongst political and ecological campaigners, education reformers, social entrepreneurs and designers. He is an acclaimed public speaker, and his talks and workshops have taken him from a London prison to Google's headquarters in California. After growing up in Sydney and Hong Kong, he studied at the universities of Oxford, London and Essex, where he gained his PhD in political sociology. Roman has worked as an academic, a gardener and a human rights campaigner. He is also a fanatical real tennis player and has a passion for making furniture.

Review :
This is the book our children's children will thank us for reading Beautiful to read, heartfelt and persuasive The Good Ancestor is one of those landmark books with the power to shift a mindset. One turns the pages feeling a growing compulsion for change. Krznaric’s clarion call for long-term thinking makes him an ancestor all future generations can be proud of It deserves to be widely read - by policy makers, and indeed by all citizens who care about the prospects for their children and grandchildren A great antidote to the short-term thinking that comes easily to us all. If you want to be a good ancestor, start by reading this book Clear-sighted and inspiring – a must-read for anyone who's looking for the good news