PUBLISHED BY IDEAPRESS PUBLISHING
How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade
UPDATED SECOND EDITION NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK!This is a handbook for visionaries. Making outlandish predictions about the future is easy. Predicting the future normal is far harder. Across thirty fast-moving chapters, The Future Normal spotlights dozens of ideas and instigators who are changing the world. From biophilic skyscrapers to generative AI, these stories offer an optimistic yet deeply human view of the next decade. For anyone looking to get ready, this book will empower you to seize the opportunities that lie ahead in this crucial decade.
WATCH AND READ
ABOUT THE BOOK
For the past decade, Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason have been on the front lines of exploring the global forces shaping our future normal through their work independently leading two of the most successful trend consultancies in the world: TrendWatching and the Non-Obvious Company.
From donning full body haptic suits to sampling cultivated meat, their work has taken them into cutting-edge labs, private testing facilities, and invite-only showcases across the world. Now for the first time, they are teaming up to share a uniquely eye-opening vision of the future unlike any other.
Across thirty fast-moving chapters, The Future Normal spotlights dozens of ideas and instigators who are changing the world. From biophilic skyscrapers to generative AI, these stories offer an optimistic yet deeply human view of the next decade. Along the way, we also tackle some of the biggest ethical and societal questions raised by all this progress.
In this book, you'll read about the ideas and instigators that are bringing about new ways to satisfy our fundamental needs and wants, changing not just their industries but also transforming our wider culture and society.
These are the stories of the future normal, and they are coming sooner than you think. For anyone looking to get ready, this book will empower you to seize the opportunities that lie ahead in this crucial decade.
SECOND EDITION - PAPERBACK 2025
First released in 2023, with an updated second edition published in paperback in 2025. The book features thirty trends shaping the future of humanity, each one anchored in something already happening somewhere in the world right now.
Rather than predicting from a distance, Rohit and Henry went to see the work: the labs, the pilot projects and the founders building the things the rest of us have not encountered yet. Each trend is told through the people making it real.
Rohit and Henry now speak at events across the globe and lead workshops for corporations in more than a dozen industries on how to anticipate and imagine the future.
Every trend in The Future Normal has its own page: what it is, who is already building it, and why it matters over the next ten years.
INSIDE THE BOOK
A few spreads from The Future Normal.
THE TRENDS BEHIND THE BOOK
Grounded in an "equilibrium of optimism and reality," the book organizes its 30 trends into three forward-looking parts and pairs each with real-world instigators already bringing it to life.
WHAT READERS SAID
“A handbook for visionaries.”
FAST COMPANY“The Future Normal will simultaneously open your eyes and expand your mind. It will help you see the future first.”
DANIEL H. PINK#1 New York Times bestselling author of Drive, When and The Power of Regret“A non-bullshit, compelling and idea-packed navigation tool for anyone who feels overwhelmed by our world's exponential pace of change.”
DAVID ROWANFounding editor-in-chief, WIRED UK, author of Non-Bullshit Innovation“Who doesn't want to have a crystal ball to see the future? Immensely helpful and insightful.”
MARTIN LINDSTROMAuthor of Buyology and The Ministry Of Common Sense“A fun and insightful read.”
FRANCESCA GINOAuthor of Rebel Talent“Thought provoking and clear-sighted, The Future Normal will help any leader prepare for the decade to come.”
BETH COMSTOCKAuthor of Imagine It Forward, former Vice Chair, GE“Essential reading for anyone wondering about what's next.”
BEN PAGEChief Executive Officer, Ipsos“At the beginning of each chapter, The Future Normal asks the most powerful question there is: what if? Nothing is more crucial.”
SCOTT OMELIANUKFormer editor-in-chief, Inc. Magazine“The Future Normal is a collection of thought-provoking concepts and scenarios packaged in a digestible framework.”
ANNELIESE OLSONFormer Senior Vice President, Hewlett Packard“An intriguing and cheerful look at ways that innovation may reshape society.”
THE AUTHORS
Two futurists who spend most of the year on stages and in workshops, and who wrote this book by going to look at the future in person.
FOUNDER, THE NON-OBVIOUS COMPANY
Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is the 3-time WSJ bestselling author of eleven books on marketing, innovation, trends and the future including his #1 bestseller Non-Obvious Megatrends. Rohit has been invited as a "non-boring" keynote speaker to events in 32 countries. He is a frequent contributor writing about non-obvious ideas for Inc, Entrepreneur and GQ magazines and is an adjunct professor of storytelling at Georgetown University. On a personal note, he loves the Olympics, actively hates cauliflower and is a proud dad of boys.
CO-AUTHOR - LONDON
HENRY COUTINHO-MASON is one of the world's leading authorities on consumer trends, having spent a decade as the managing director of TrendWatching. He is the author of Trend-Driven Innovation and has given more than 100 inspiring and practical keynotes and workshops in 30+ countries, to the world's biggest brands including J&J, Calvin Klein, Mastercard, the Tata Group, and many more.
GET YOUR COPY
Signed copies of The Future Normal ship directly from the Non-Obvious store. The current second edition paperback (ISBN 978-1-64687-188-9) is also available from your favorite bookseller.
RECOGNITION
Here is every honor the book has earned, and what each award is for.
GOLD MEDAL
Gold Medal, Current Events - Social Issues/Humanitarian
The IPPY Awards honor the best independently published titles from around the world.
SILVER MEDAL
Silver Medal, Emerging Trends/AI
The Axiom Awards recognize exemplary business books, judged on quality of content, originality, design and production.
WINNER
Winner, Current Events
A global competition for independent publishers in which judges weigh each book against a broad set of editorial and production criteria.
WINNER
Winner, Nonfiction - General
A program designed to foster the promotion of new authors and books, with a single title named across all nonfiction each year.
WINNER
Winner, Current Events
An international competition open to independently and traditionally published authors alike.
FIRST PLACE
First Place Winner
A global competition that honors excellence across all types of literature, with separate placings inside each subject category.
WINNER
Winner
An annual competition recognizing outstanding independently published books across nonfiction categories.
FINALIST
Finalist
One of the largest mainstream book award competitions in the United States, judged across dozens of subcategories.
FINALIST
Grand Prize Shortlist
Named for the longshoreman philosopher, the Hoffer Award honors salient writing and the independent spirit of small publishers.
FINALIST
Finalist
Foreword Reviews' annual awards for the best books from independent and university presses.
FINALIST
Finalist
A competition that receives more than two thousand entries from authors and publishers worldwide each year.
FINALIST
Finalist
A program that has evaluated and promoted thousands of independently published books since 2007.
FINALIST
Finalist
The largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers.
FINALIST
Finalist
Unusual among book awards in that every entry is judged and reviewed by actual readers rather than an industry panel.
FINALIST
Finalist, Best New Nonfiction
An awards program from American Book Fest honoring excellence in legacy nonfiction categories.
FINALIST
Finalist
A program that has evaluated and promoted thousands of independently published books since 2007.
FOREIGN EDITIONS
The book is also available in translated editions.
EVEN MORE PRAISE
All 16 advance endorsements the book received, unedited and in full.
A non-bullshit, compelling and idea-packed navigation tool for anyone who feels overwhelmed by our world's exponential pace of change. The Future Normal cuts through the noise to define the decade's breakthrough technological and cultural trends.
Founding Editor-in-Chief of WIRED UK and Author of NON-BULLSHIT INNOVATION
The Future Normal will simultaneously open your eyes and expand your mind. It will help you see the future first - while awakening you to the possibilities that future holds. This essential book will inspire you to push beyond asking “What’s next? and begin asking, “What if?
#1 NY Times Bestselling Author of DRIVE, WHEN, and THE POWER OF REGRET
In The Future Normal, Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason expertly dig deep into our social behaviors and needs to understand which ideas and trends will take off and become ‘normal’ in the future. A fun and insightful read.
Author of REBEL TALENT and Professor at Harvard Business School
Thought provoking and clear-sighted, The Future Normal will help any leader prepare for the decade to come.
Author of IMAGINE IT FORWARD and Former Vice Chair of GE
While we can’t predict the future, Henry and Rohit look at the signals that do contain it. Essential reading for any one wondering about what’s next.
CEO of IPSOS
At the beginning of each chapter, The Future Normal asks the most powerful question there is: what if? But more than just posing those two words and letting them hang, Rohit Bhargava and his coauthor Henry Coutinho-Mason, take us on a tour of the state of potential and possibility, nudging us to our own inquiry, understanding, and, ultimately, coherent action at a time when nothing is more crucial to us and the future of our society.
Editor-in-Chief of Inc. Magazine
History is paved with thousands of wildly inaccurate predictions about what happens next. Against this backdrop, The Future Normal pieces together fascinating insights from the world's most forward-thinking individuals and companies to give readers a well-reasoned, well-researched roadmap of the trends that are most likely to define tomorrow.
Co-President & Chief Programming Officer of SXSW
It's easy to be daunted by the possible strangeness of our future. But fear not - with The Future Normal as your fascinating guidebook, asking the questions you didn't even know you had, you will see fresh new perspectives as to the exciting dawns we all aspire to.
Founder of A Plastic Planet
An important book which brims with optimism, imagination and practical ideas.
Author of THE NOWHERE OFFICE
The Future Normal is a collection of thought-provoking concepts and scenarios packaged in a digestible framework. Rohit and Henry have created a new blueprint and discussion guide here for companies and leaders across all industries to use for future business and strategy planning.
Former Senior Vice President of Hewlett Packard
The focus in this book on what life will be like everyday - the normal as opposed to the extreme outlier experiences of a few - is really smart, and more importantly, really useful for thinking about now and next.
Head of Innovation of Accenture Song
From air protein to job sharing to 15-minute cities, The Future Normal is a greatest-hits discovery tour of the most exciting ideas that will make up our everyday lives in the near future. Henry and Rohit narrate one innovation after another, all of which are a testament to the sheer power of human ingenuity in a tone that is both comforting and accessible, like your best mate telling you about the incredible future that awaits us all whilst you share (low-alcohol, gluten-free) beers at the pub.
Founder of Green Queen
The ultimate orientation! Open this book and you see the trends that will shape your future.
CEO & Founder of TRENDONE
In a time of humanity-defining change, The Future Normal shows where to focus our efforts. A clear guide as to which of today’s bets not only could but need to become the most ordinary and thus important elements of life. It is those, after all, that define the true future.
Founder of FashMash and Advocacy Lead for Sustainable Fashion, UN Environment Program
Who doesn’t want to have a crystal ball to see the future? Bhargava and Coutinho-Mason argue that we don’t have to. We simply must look around us today to spot tomorrow’s opportunities. In The Future Normal, they show us how and present some of the most compelling trends that will impact our future - and likely your business. Immensely helpful and insightful.
Author of BIOLOGY and THE MINISTRY OF COMMON SENSE
Future Normal is a helpful canter through what the coming years may hold, asking the right questions and feeding our imaginations for a positive tomorrow.
Author of EXPONENTIAL VIEW
BRING THE TRENDS TO YOUR STAGE
Rohit speaks on the trends shaping how we will live, work and thrive, and what your organization can do about them now.
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