Imaginable: How to see the future coming and be ready for anything

Description

Learn how to open your mind, think the unthinkable, imagine the unimaginable and plan for the future with creativity and optimism. How can we be confident about making plans? How might we feel secure despite the future being unknown? How do we learn to feel at peace with the unexpected? When we think about the future it can be difficult to feel that we have any control. We aren't confident that we can take actions and make decisions that help determine what happens next. We want to feel prepared, hopeful and equipped, and to face the future with optimism. Or, better yet, change the future. But how do we map out our lives when it feels impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year? Jane McGonigal, a renowned future forecaster, reveals that 'unimaginable' events aren't unimaginable before they happen. It is possible to see them coming and it's a mindset that can be learned by engaging with tools, games and ideas that will allow you to dive into the future before you live it. By learning to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable you can better plan for a future you'd like to see. And by seeing what's coming faster, you can adapt to new challenges, reduce anxiety, and build hope and resilience.

Jane McGonigal is the Director of Games Research and Development at the Institute for the Future and a New York Times bestselling author. Her work has been featured in The Economist, Wired and The New York Times, and on MTV, CNN and NPR. She teaches a course on 'How to Think Like a Futurist' at Stanford University, and has taught game design and theory at UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Art Institute. She regularly speaks to global audiences and has had over 15 million views of her TED talks.

Jane McGonigal is unusually adept at anticipating events that most of us can't even fathom. In this eye-opening, actionable book, she teaches you how to widen your peripheral vision, extend your imagination farther into the future, and conceive of the inconceivable. * Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again * Reading this book is like sitting down with a creative, optimistic friend-and getting up as a new version of yourself. Jane McGonigal has long been a visionary. Now she teaches the rest of us how to be one too. * Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of When and To Sell Is Human * In Imaginable, Jane McGonigal teaches us to bring soul-stirring imagination to our daily lives. As she persuasively demonstrates, imagination training is more than just a skill set: It's a creativity boost, a mindset shift, and an emotional uplift, all rolled up in one. The life-changing techniques you'll learn in this science-packed book will help you choose your future and feel more in control of what happens next. * Nir Eyal, New York Times bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable * Imaginable is a delightful and actionable antidote to apocalypse: an invitation to play with the future as if it were limited by nothing but our own imaginative capacity. An inspiring read. * Douglas Rushkoff, author of Present Shock and Team Human * Expertly blending practical advice and big-picture thinking, this is a stimulating guide to preparing for the future. Readers will be inspired to put their imaginations to use. * Publishers Weekly *