How to Fall in Love with the Future
A Time Traveller’s Guide to Changing the World
Part manifesto, part guidebook, Rob Hopkins’s How to Fall in Love with the Future argues that in order to change the world, people must begin with their imaginations.
Drawing on neuroscience, philosophy, and narrative storytelling, the book explores the power of “mental time travel,” the cognitive ability to envision the future. It rejects environmental fatalism in favor of visionary activism, stating that “the key question isn’t whether or not time travel is possible; rather, what would our activism look like if we acted as though it were?” Visions of the future become urgent calls to action. The first step toward building a better future, it suggests, is believing that one could exist.
Showing how collective imagination can lead to real innovation, the book’s approach is immersive, even playful at times, without losing sight of the stakes. Its time travel theatrics are backed by research and supported by future-oriented efforts like France’s first solar-powered restaurant and the Welsh Well-being of Future Generations Act. Its instructions for constructing a mental time machine and conducting group brainstorming sessions are a hopeful alternative to climate doomism.
The book draws from an array of activists and movements, from Afrofuturism’s radical reimagining of Black futures to a Dutch city’s forward-thinking biking infrastructure. While its flood of case studies and examples cause it to lose momentum in its middle, it holds firm to its essential theme throughout. It concludes with an extensive time machine “blueprint” to implement its thought experiment.
How to Fall in Love with the Future is an optimistic climate change activism guide that says that the futures people envision are the first step toward the futures they build.
Reviewed by
Hannah Pearson
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
