The conclusion of a loose trilogy about time

This is the third book in Roman Krznaric’s loose trilogy about time: “Carpe Diem Regained” (2017) is about seizing the day, living in the present; “The Good Ancestor” (2020) is about how we choose to live now will affect the future of humanity: a forward-looking, 7th-generation empathy; this book, “History for Tomorrow”, looks back to the past for lessons about how we can tackle and rethink the challenges of today.

My reading of this audiobook edition, narrated by the author, was prolonged because I was stuck in the present, listening to the BBC’s “Newscast” to keep up with the endless stream of news about the unending now and the new Labour government. I’ve now scratched that particular itch, having realized (again) that I’ll never be able to keep up.

It engages in dialogue with and echoes other books I’ve read recently (I love it when that happens!): Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and Peter Frankopan’s “The Earth Transformed” - and both authors are cited. It’s also preoccupied with the ongoing threats of climate change, water scarcity, the cancer stage of capitalism, social media, inequality, and AI. It’s in the chapter on AI (“Keeping the Machines Under Control - Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of Capitalism”) that I found myself agitating slightly: I felt at times that Krznaric’s definition of AI was too broad, including recommendation algorithms and citing the overdone anecdote that Target knew a girl was pregnant before she did by sending her coupons for baby products. (I feel like I’ve read or heard a debunking of that story, but I can’t remember where it was: Malcolm Gladwell? The “Reply All” or “Search Engine” podcasts?) It rubs me up the wrong way in the same way that people used to throw around the phrase “Big Data”, which instead of clarifying the concept for me just makes it fuzzier. What’s probably going on is that my ignorance is being exposed and my neurological pathways are being rerouted, which probably means it’s finally time for me to read Michael Woolridge’s “The Road to Conscious Machines: The Story of AI” to straighten things out (or cause more cognitive unsettlings). Don’t get me wrong: I think this is a good thing, and I welcome the feeling of unrest.

Having read most of the author’s other books (and known him as a colleague, friend, and client for 20 years), the tone and structure of this book is very familiar - not least because I could hear his voice reading it to me! He loves a surprising juxtaposition, a satisfying anecdote, a principled role model, a sighting of empathy in the world at large. His books are successful, (I think) widely read and discussed, easily digested and marketed - grown out of blog posts and lectures, in the same way that short films are sometimes the germ for feature films. Like writers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Tim Harford, and Cal Flyn, Roman Krznaric has definitely found his voice. If I was his literary agent, I’d probably encourage him to do more of the same. But there’s a part of me, a wicked sprite, that wants to challenge him to do something completely different with his next book: something riskier, more likely to fail, in a different voice. I don’t know what that is (fiction? investigative journalism? travel writing? biography? a play or film script? some new genre that hasn’t even been invented yet?); but maybe he does. Is there an abortive attempt lurking in the back of a drawer somewhere or an unfinished notebook? Not that you need it, Roman, but you have my permission to try something different.

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