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    The Futurist
    The Futurist
    The Futurist
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Futurist

    Written by James P. Othmer

    Narrated by William Dufris

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Yates is a Futurist. Which is to say he makes a very good living flying around the world dispensing premonitory wisdom, aka prepackaged bull, to world governments, corporations, and global leadership conferences. He is an optimist by trade and a cynic by choice. He's the kind of man who can give a lecture on successive days to a leading pesticide manufacturer and the Organic Farmers of America, and receive standing ovations at both.

    But just as the American Empire is beginning to fray around the edges, so too is Yates's carefully scripted existence. On the way to the Futureworld Conference in Johannesburg, he opens a handwritten note from his girlfriend, saying she's left him for a sixth-grade history teacher. Then he witnesses a soccer riot in which a number of South Africans are killed, to the chagrin of the South African PR people at Futureworld. Sparked by a heroic devastation of his minibar and inspired by the rookie hooker sent to his hotel room courtesy of his hosts, Yates delivers a spectacularly career-ending speech at Futureworld, which leads to a sound beating, a meeting with some quasi-governmental creeps, and a hazy mission to go around the world answering the question: Why does everyone hate us?

    Thus begins an absolutely original novel that is fueled by equal parts subversive satire, genuine physical fear, and heartfelt moral anguish. From the hideously ugly Greenlander nymphomaniacal artist to the gay male model spy to the British corporate magnate with a taste for South Pacific virgin sacrifice rituals, The Futurist manages to be wildly entertaining and deadly serious at the same time.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 15, 2006
    ISBN9781400172481
    The Futurist

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    Reviews for The Futurist

    3.5/5

    80 ratings6 reviews

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    • 1/5
      This book was chosen for a book club and it’s not something I would have picked out. At first glance, I didn’t think I’d like it. After reading it I know I was right. Hated it! The main character was not likable. He comes off as a cynical smartass that has no redeeming qualities that make you want to root for him. Some of the book was entertaining enough to keep me reading it. I liked the interesting and bizarre people he met up with. The plot lost it’s humor and became too much – wouldn’t really recommend it.
    • 3/5
      For about 15 years, I pretty much exclusively read sci fi. And now I find that so many of the scenarios in those books have come true and we are living them now; the internet, the influence of corporations, the rise of religion & its influence on politics, the ignorance and fickleness of the polulace and how easy they are fooled, led one way, then another...I could go on. When I read the premise for this book (by the way a book club choice), my first thought was been there, done that! And really, with all the conspiracy theories that abound today, this story just seemed like another one in a long line of previously covered ideas. With the book being a fast read and pretty predictable and not particularly funny, all I can say is its been done before and so much better.
    • 5/5
      Plot....hey, who needs it? Othmer bought his off the shelf, borrowing a little from every conspiracy you've ever heard, from Guy Fawkes to The Manchurian Candidate.All Othmer needed was a tree he could decorate with his cruel, cynical observations and spiky one-liners. These elements of the book--let's not mince words here--are brilliant.The Futurist is dense with word-play and preposterous invention. Descriptions are vivid, and the language tight. You will not find one single ounce of fat on this book. It doesn't surprise me that Othmer was once a copywriter. In a trade where words cost money, every word has to earn its keep. The Futurist showcases Othmer's skill as a deft ingniter of ideas. Enjoy the ride with him.
    • 4/5
      Othmer does a swell job at pointing out the internal moral problems most of us refuse to face.
    • 4/5
      This novel is all about a globetrotting pundit named Yates, who journeys from conference to conference dispensing whatever prognostications and shibboleths his corporate sponsors require to stimulate their local economies and, at every stop, elevating mini-bar-raiding to a grotesque art form. Whether this book connects with you will probably depend on your interest in the author's cynical take on the future direction of our global economy and your tolerance for self-absorbed protagonists who have lost their way in blind pursuit of professional success. Think "Bright Light Big City" meets "Jerry McGuire," with a William Gibsonian, cyberpunk veneer. Much of it worked for me, though I had some difficulty buying into the conspiratorial framework of the story, especially the plausibility of the Johnsons' recruitment of Yates to serve their amorphous geopolitical agenda. While adding an element of danger and intrigue to the story, it compromised the believability factor. James Othmer is a talented writer, with a finger on the global pulse and flair for satirical humor. I look forward to his future offerings. -Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"
    • 3/5
      Interesting & sometimes funny novel with protagonist Yates traveling the world as a "futurist" and running into interesting & bizarre people and situations. Some really cool sub-plot(lets), but the ending was not as satisfactory as I might have wanted.